Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for DUDDON (The)

DUDDON (The), a river of Cumberland and Lancashire; forming the boundary between these counties, from the vicinity of its source to the sea. It rises on Wrynose, near the Three Shire Stones; runs 12 miles as a stream, south by westward, to the neighbourhood of Broughton; and proceeds thence, as an estuary, with a mean width of about 2½ miles, southward and south-west-ward, to the Irish sea, near the north end of Walney Island. Its highest reach, down to the foot of Seath-waite, traverses a narrow vale, called specially the vale of Duddon; its central reach traverses a wider vale, called the Plain of Donnerdale; and its next reach, down to Broughton, traverses the Vale of Ulpha. Its estuary includes about 13, 000 acres of silt, all bare at low water, and capable of being reclaimed into fertile land. Its upper waters abound with trout and salmon; and its lower ones, with cod and flounders. Its scenery is highly picturesque, with much variety of the wild, the romantic, and the beautiful; and has been sung by Wordsworth in a series of sonnets; who says, respecting its estuary, -

Not hurled precipitous from steep to steep,
Lingering no more 'mid flower-enamelled-lands
And blooming thickets, nor by rocky bands
Held, but in radiant progress toward the deep,
Where mightiest rivers into powerless sleep
Sink and forget their nature, now expands
Majestic Duddon over smooth flat sands,
Gliding in silence with unfettered sweep!


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a river"   (ADL Feature Type: "rivers")
Administrative units: Cumberland AncC       Lancashire AncC
Place names: DUDDON     |     DUDDON THE     |     THE DUDDON

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.