According to legend, St Patrick, having been shipwrecked on the Duddon Sands, made his way to the dale, and stayed long enough to baptize the local inhabitants. There is a well dedicated to him in a wall by the roadside at Glenridding.
Crossing the Lake of Ullswater at Glencoin, the parish boundary continues almost unbelievably for about fifty miles over the fells. At the valley bottom, the road links the hamlets of Hartsop, Patterdale, Glenridding, Deerdale and Grisedale, each of which has its own dale.
The Kirkstone Pass rises at the other extremity with Dovedale Red Screes, and Cawdle Moor. Hartsop shows much evidence of its old importance with its 'spinning galleries' and lead mining remains.
John Mounsey, the so-called 'King of Patterdale' lived at Patterdale Hall. His main claim to fame was leading a party of dalesmen to Stybarrow Crag when Scottish marauders were expected. He later sold the Hall to the Marshall family
Opposite St Patrick's church is 'The Butts' where archery was practised and the stocks would have stood.
The beautiful Grisedale valley is behind Patterdale Hall. Above this valley is the famous Striding Edge...a knife-edge ridge leading on to Helvellyn...over 3000 feet! It was up here, on what deQuincey called the awful curtain rock, that Charles Gough was killed in Trafalgar year, his faithful dog watching by his body for three months. The story has been told by Scott and Wordsworth. High on Tarn Crag, a few yards before Grisedale Tarn comes into sight, is a rock with an inscription recalling that here Wordsworth came on his last walk with his brother John, not long before John, who was commander of the 'Earl of Abergavenny' went down with his ship.
Five miles north is 'Aira Force' in all probability the Lake District's most famous waterfall eighty feet high. Also worth visiting is Lyulp's Tower an 18th century building on the site of a possible pele tower. It is the scene of Wordsworth's 'Somnambulist'.
At Glenridding in 1927, the reservoir at Kepple Cove burst, and over a quarter of a million gallons of water flooded into the valley, and at the same time sweeping 25,000 tons of rubble into Glenridding Beck. The devastation as can be imagined, was enormous.
Patterdale has had a goodly share of characters over the years. Lanty (Lancelot) Patty lost his wife and took most of his family to live in a cave near Goldrill Bridge. It was named Lanty's castle. Lanty was buried on August 8th 1865, aged 96 years.
The Reverend John Mattinson reached the age of 96 in the year 1765. During his lifetime he was paid a stipend that started at £12 per year, and rose to £18 per annum! He lived verty well, brought up four children without benefits of any kind, and managed to leave £1,000.
John Walton of Bridgend was master of the Old Hartsop Foxhounds. This function brought him no lasting fame, but he was widely known for his aversion to soap and water. He prided himself on being the dirtiest man in Patterdale, and left instructions in his will that he was to be buried as dirty as he was found at his death.
A few years ago, Patterdale was the backdrop for the TV series of dramas, "The Lakes".
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