{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox waterfall | name = Aira Force | photo = File:Waterfall Lakes.JPG | photo_width = | photo_caption = The waterfall in 2012 | map = | map_width = | mapframe-caption = Interactive map of the Aira Force area | region = | source = | coords = {{Coord| 54.5763| -2.9309|display=inline,title|type:landmark_region:GB}} | grid_ref_UK = NY401203 | location = [[Matterdale]], Cumbria | type = | elevation = | height = {{convert|70|ft}} | height_longest = | number_drops = | width = | average_width = | watercourse = | average_flow = | world_rank = }} '''Aira Force''' is a [[waterfall]] in the English [[Lake District]], in the civil parish of [[Matterdale]] and the county of [[Cumbria]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ | title = Ordnance Survey Election Maps | publisher = [[Ordnance Survey]] | accessdate = 14 June 2016}} Opened at appropriate location, with civil parish boundaries and names shown.</ref> The site of the waterfall is owned by the [[National Trust]].
==Description== The stream flowing over the waterfall is Aira Beck, which rises on the upper slopes of [[Stybarrow Dodd]] at a height of {{convert|720|m|ft|0}} and flows north-easterly before turning south, blocked by the high heather-covered slopes of [[Gowbarrow Fell]]. It turns south on its eight-kilometre journey to join [[Ullswater]], at a height of {{convert|150|m|ft|0}}. One kilometre before entering the lake, the beck makes the {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} leap down a rocky and steep sided ravine at the falls known as Aira Force. The water falls approximately {{convert|22|m|ft|0}} to a rocky pool, from where the beck continues through a shallow valley to the lake.
The river name Aira is derived from [[Old Norse]] ''eyrr'', a gravel bank, and Old Norse ''á'', a river, hence "the river at the gravel bank", a reference to Aira Point, a gravelly spit where the river enters Ullswater. The Old Norse word ''fors'', waterfall, has been adopted into several northern English dialects and is widely used for waterfalls, with the English spelling 'Force'. Thus, "the waterfall on gravel-bank river".<ref>Gambles, Robert: ''Lake District Place Names'': Hayloft Publishing (2013): {{ISBN|1-904524-92-3}}</ref>
==Tourism== [[File:Wish Tree at Aira Force.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Wish tree coins in timber at Aira Force]] Aira Force lies on land owned by the [[National Trust]]. The Trust purchased the 750-acre Gowbarrow Park (on which the force lies) in 1906 and has provided facilities, such as car parking, disabled access, graded paths, and viewing platforms to make Aira Force one of the most famous and most visited waterfalls in the Lake District.<ref name="visit cumbria">{{cite web|url=https://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/aira-force.htm|title=Aira Force|website=Visit Cumbria|accessdate=27 October 2022}} Details National Trust purchase.</ref> The National Trust has also provided public lavatories, a café, and a visitor centre.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cassassociates.co.uk/aira-force-open-to-the-public/|title=Aira Force Open To Public|date=2013|accessdate=22 April 2024|website=Cass Associates}}</ref> The site is open to visitors throughout the year. A public footpath from the village of Dockray passes the waterfall.
Beside the walk that passes up the glen is located a good example of a [[Wish Tree]], in this case using a large fallen tree trunk. Visitors hammer coins into it using stones from the site.
In 2015, [[Ullswater 'Steamers']] opened a jetty on the lake shore near Aira Force, making the waterfall accessible by foot passenger ferry from [[Glenridding]]. A footpath runs from Aira Force as far as Glencoyne Bay, but only a track exists from this point on.<ref>[http://www.ullswater-steamers.co.uk/about-us/history/ History of Ullswater 'Steamers'] on the company website (accessed 25 July 2015).</ref>
==Bridges== A small arched bridge spans the stream just as the beck goes over the falls giving views from the top. There is also a second bridge at the foot of the falls. Both bridges were constructed in honour of members of the [[Spring family]] early in the 20th century. [[Cecil Spring Rice]] was the British ambassador to the USA during the [[First World War]], while [[Stephen Spring Rice (1856–1902)|Stephen Spring Rice]] was a senior civil servant. Lt Gerald Spring Rice of the 11th Battalion, Border Regiment was killed in 1916 during the First World War and buried in France.
The bridges are of particular interest: the lower is made of vertical stones, not traditional in this area of Cumbria, while the higher has horizontal stones, more in keeping with the dale customs.<ref name="segnetworks">{{cite web|url=http://oepoi.segnetworks.co.uk/item.php?id=49|date=19 June 2008|title= Aira Force Waterfall|website=OneEye’s Points of Interest|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130421091552/http://oepoi.segnetworks.co.uk/item.php?id=49 |archivedate=21 April 2013}} Gives details of bridges.</ref>
In 2021, the lower bridge was rendered inaccessible after a tree fall during heavy storms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Following the tree fall in... - Aira Force National Trust |url=https://www.facebook.com/AiraForceNT/photos/a.833510193427873/4234117716700420/?type=3 |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}</ref> Access was restored by installing steel platforms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cwherald.com/news/189000-project-to-install-steel-platforms-at-aira-force/|title=£189,000 project to install steel platforms at Aira Force|author=CWH|date=22 February 2021|website=Cumberland and Westmorland Herald}}</ref>
==Poetry== The [[Lake Poet]] [[William Wordsworth]] paid many visits to the area around Aira Force; he was probably inspired to write his poem "Daffodils", with the opening line "I wandered lonely as a cloud", as he and [[Dorothy Wordsworth]] observed [[daffodil]]s growing on the shore of Ullswater near where Aira Beck enters the lake near Glencoyne Bay.<ref name="test1">{{cite web|url=https://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/daffodil.htm|title= Daffodils at Ullswater|website=Visit Cumbria|accessdate=27 October 2022}} Details that Wordsworth was probably inspired to write daffodils at Glencoyne Bay.</ref> The falls themselves are mentioned in three Wordsworth poems, the most famous reference being in "The Somnambulist", where in the final verse he writes:
{{blockquote| :Wild stream of Aira, hold thy course, :Nor fear memorial lays, :Where clouds that spread in solemn shade, :Are edged with golden rays! :Dear art thou to the light of heaven, :Though minister of sorrow; :Sweet is thy voice at pensive even. :And thou, in lovers' hearts forgiven, :Shalt take thy place with Yarrow!<ref name="test2">{{cite web|url=http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jgarret/wva/yr/756.htm#756r1|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120207143021/http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jgarret/wva/yr/756.htm|archive-date=7 Feb 2012|first=James M.|last=Garrett|date=1998|title=(Gives full version of) The Somnambulist}}</ref> }} {{wikisource|Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834/Airey Force|'Airey Force', a poetical illustration by L. E. L.}} [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]'s poetical illustration in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, Airey Force, to an engraving of a painting by [[Thomas Allom]], refers to a legend that a hermit once lived beneath the falls.<ref>{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=19BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PT30|section=picture|year=1833|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=19BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PT32|section=poetical illustration|page=41|year=1833|publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>
== Transport == Bus routes serving the waterfall are run by [[Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire|Stagecoach]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake District Buses - Visit The Lake District |publisher=Stagecoach |url=https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/cumbria-and-north-lancashire/explore-the-lakes-by-bus |access-date=16 March 2026 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * [[List of waterfalls]] * [[List of waterfalls in the United Kingdom]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/aira-force-and-ullswater Ullswater and Aira Force information at the National Trust] * [http://www.lakedistrictwalks.net/aira-force-waterfall-ullswater Lake District Walks - Aira Force Waterfall] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ9WhHZ0es8 Video on the Legend of Lady Emma and Sir Eglamore] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXwQpZrOXBY Video of the Aira Force Wish Tree] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm3qWb0pKfI Video footage of the Aira Force Pier] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqO3EoIogGA Video of the Glenridding to Glencoyne Bay walk]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Cumbria]] [[Category:National Trust properties in the Lake District]] [[Category:Waterfalls of Cumbria]] [[Category:Force (waterfall)]]