Friar's Crag, Derwentwater

About

To some, including the famous writer, poet and great thinker John Ruskin, Friar's Crag represents Keswick's best view. Ten minutes walk along level paths from Keswick Lakeside car park and Crow Park is the viewpoint of Friar’s Crag; where from the bench on the end you get an unbroken view of the length of Derwentwater, with views of Walla Crag fell on the left; Maiden Moor on the right and Castle Crag in the centre, at the far end of the lake.

Friars Crag achieved its name because it was believed to be the embarkment point for monks making a pilgrimage to St Herbert’s Island, located south west of the crag.
 
It was through the efforts of Canon Rawnsley, vicar of Crosthwaite and one of the founders of the National Trust that much of Borrowdale was preserved from development. On his death in 1920 Friars Crag, together with Lords Island and Calf Close Bay were given to the Trust as his memorial. A plaque to his memory is set into a wall beside the Friars Crag Path.

There is a slate memorial to John Ruskin who once said "The first thing I remember was being taken by my nurse to the brow of Friar's Crag". He was also known to have said that the view from Friar's Crag "is one of the three or four most beautiful in Europe".