UK Edition
National Trust finally owns Lake District island which inspired its creation, after generous donor leaves it in her will
It was the island which inspired the very foundation of the National Trust: its sale to a private owner frustrating a Lake District admirer so much he vowed never to let it happen again.
More than 120 years later, the charity has finally got its hands on Grasmere Island.
The small island, which is not populated, has been left to the Trust by its former owner in her will, after she learned how much it meant to its founders.
The benefactor, who stipulated she did not want to be recognised for her generosity, is understood to have been familiar with the controversial history of Grasmere Island, and sought to return it to the nation via the Trust.
The Trust has now pledged to the 1,78 hectare land will be “protected for ever, for everyone”.
The will marks the end of a 124-year frustration for die-hard supporters of public land ownership, after the island was put up for sale at auction in 1893 and bought privately.
Then, local campaigner Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, said to be a “great defender” of the Lake District and its landscape, was left frustrated by the sale, fearing potential development in private hands.
In November of that year, he joined his first official meeting with Sir Robert Hunter and Octavia Hill: the trio who went on to found the National Trust in January 1895.
Then, Rawnsley said of their inspiration: “It is notorious that during the last two years the top of Snowdon, the island in the middle of Grasmere lake, and the Lodore Falls have all come into the market.
“Had such a Trust as that now proposed been in existence, each of these places might have been obtained for the nation.”
Grasmere Island, which is covered by trees in the middle of the small lake, is noted particularly fo rits association with William Wordsworth, who lived at nearby Allan Bank from 1808 to 1811 and called Grasmere “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found”.
Purchased by Canon Rawnsley in 1915, Allan Bank was National Trust in his will.
The house was tenanted until a serious fire in 2011 and is now open to the public.
A spokesman for the National Trust said the organisation did not plan to make drastic changes to the island, undertaking a survey of its wildlife before leaving it in the state in which it was granted to them.
Dave Almond, National Trust manager for Allan Bank and Grasmere, said: “It’s fantastic that 124 years after the private sale of Grasmere island, the view that can be enjoyed from Allan Bank and that has inspired so many, will now be protected for ever, for everyone.
“The island provides a quiet haven for wildlife, including a heronry comprising four nests that have established here almost certainly because of the relative lack of human disturbance.
“The magnificent ‘Medusa-like’ veteran oak on the island has become engulfed by the surrounding younger trees.
“This is such an important tree ecologically because of the wildlife that it supports, but some work will need to be done to give it the space it needs.
“It’s an exciting prospect and we’re looking forward to carrying out some wildlife surveys, such as bat surveys, to see what species are present.”
A spokesman added visitors to Allan Bank will now be able to find out more about the story of “Rawnsley’s island” its influence on the formation of the National Trust.
The gift of the island will be welcomed by the Trust, which has endured a difficult year in the Lake District.
In 2016, it became embroiled in a furious dispute over Thorneythwaite Farm in Borrowdale, which had been put on the market earlier in two parts: land, containing a flock of rare breed Herdwick sheep, and farm buildings.
The Trust bought the land without the property, reportedly paying vastly over the odds in a move Lord Bragg called “a nasty piece of work” and a “disgraceful purchase”.