Download the Management Plan - Carlisle City Council

Lakeland fells around Seathwaite in Cumbria). The higher parts of the Lake District are
particularly wet, with an average of over 3200mm of rain each year. More sheltered areas of
Cheshire and the Eden valley in Cumbria are drier with less than 800mm per year. These areas
benefit from the 'rain shadow' effect of the high ground of N Wales and the Lake District
respectively (sourced from the Met Office website) The Tarn itself has a small weather station
and this is used for writing of wildlife reports and to assist with conservation research such as
monitoring of blue green algae.
Soils
After the glacier melted 12,000 years ago, the tremendous outwash, of gravels and sands formed
the hills surrounding the Tarn. This is why much of the soil around the Tarn is sandy with
boulders and very low in nutrients.
Wayleaves
A file of maps showing the wayleaves across the site is held in the site office. It contains maps of
public sewers, electricity cables, mains water pipes, BT cables and gas pipelines. The site
however is not on mains sewers and propane gas for the tearoom is supplied in bottles.
Brief History
Historically the Earl of Carlisle was the ‘Noble Proprietor’ of Talkin Tarn, he was based at
Boothby Manor House, Brampton with Boothby Estates administering the Tarn plus surrounding
woods and farmland. The Talkin Tarn Amateur Rowing Club (TTARC) was formed in 1859 and
at some point after this took on the lease for the Tarn site from Boothby Estates. TTARC, the
second oldest rowing club in Northern England, opened the site for public use employing a
boatman to operate pleasure craft and undertake management of the surrounding land. For the
majority of this period Boothby Estates was run by North Cumbria Labour MP Wilfrid Hubert
Wace Roberts (28 th Aug 1900 – 26 th May 1991) who had succeeded his father, Charles Henry
Roberts, 9 th Earl of Carlisle. In 1975/6 TTARC relinquished the lease of the site, with the Tarn
and approximately 65 acres of adjoining land being sold to Cumbria County Council who
created the country park which exists today.
TTARC discontinued the provision of pleasure boats and became purely a user of the Tarn.
Between 2006 Cumbria County Council officially
handed control of the Tarn over to Carlisle City
Council only retaining ownership of the former Tarn
End Hotel, which was sold in 2009 for private
development. The site has been used for many
different activities over the years, the most notable of
these being Rowing, Wrestling, Curling, Sailing,
Swimming and Ice Skating.
The Legend of the Tarn
Talkin Tarn was in the midst of a storm when an outsider came to the village looking for shelter.
She was turned away from every door. But the villagers hadn't realised that the stranger was a
witch and as she walked down the hill, she turned and said: "May you be flooded". And so there
was a flood and the Tarn was formed. The full legend can be found in the site office.
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