From Bootle to Brigham: Stage One

Environs of the Lake District from John Cary New Itinerary (11th edition, 1828), detail

It seems likely that Fox went along the customary route from Bootle to Cockermouth via Egremont. Ogilby gives the road only from Egremont. Bowen and Kitchin show the road from Bootle going North through Ravenglass, then past Gosforth and Sellafield to Egremont. The territory is cut by rivers coming down out of the Lakes, so bridges are important. Cary shows it going via Muncaster Bridge (not forded at Ravenglass), then over the Irt at Carlton (near Holmrook), over the Calder at Ponsonby (Calder Bridge), and over the Black Beck and Kirk Beck at Beckermet. At Egremont it crosses the River Ehe, and Ogilby’s map begins.
According to Google Maps, the distance from Bootle to Brigham is 36.7 miles, and ‘without traffic’ it should take 58 minutes by car; an over-sanguine estimate. Fox went by horse (see fol. 78v).

Image © Meg Twycross 2016

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