Aira Force

Aira Force is a waterfall in the English Lake District, on land owned by the National Trust. It stands where Aira Beck drops twenty metres down a steep ravine into a rocky pool before flowing on to Ullswater. The beck rises high on Stybarrow Dodd and travels eight kilometres through heather-covered slopes. Near the lake it turns south and crosses the gravelly spit called Aira Point. The name Aira Force comes from Old Norse words for ‘river at the gravel bank’ and ‘waterfall’. The site is one of the Lake District’s most visited waterfalls, thanks to the National Trust’s paths and viewing platforms. A footpath from Dockray village leads to the falls, and a jetty on Ullswater lets visitors arrive by ferry. Beside the path stands a Wish Tree, a fallen trunk into which coins are hammered with stones. Two small arched bridges cross the stream, built early in the 20th century for members of the Spring family. Visitors walk up the glen past the upper bridge for views of the cascade. Below, the lower bridge frames the foot of the falls, though it was closed briefly after a tree fell in storms. William Wordsworth wrote of the falls in three poems, inspired by daffodils seen near Glencoyne Bay. A path continues from Aira Force as far as Glencoyne Bay, where the beck meets the lake.