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National Trust
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Town: Lake District
Region: Lake District
County: Cumbria
Telephone: 0870 458 4000
Website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk


Full Description: Anyone who likes visiting places of natural beauty and/or historic interests has cause to be grateful to the National Trust. Without it, many such places would probably have vanished by now.

It was in response to the pressure on the countryside posed by the relentless march of Victorian industrialisation that the trust was set up in 1895. Its founders, inspired by the common goals of protecting and conserving Britain’s national heritage and widening public access to it, were Sir Robert Hunter Octavia Hill and Canon Rawnsley: respectively a solicitor, a social reformer and clergyman. The latter was particularly influential. As a canon of Carlisle Cathedral and vicar of Crosthwaite (near Keswick), he was concerned about threats to the Lake District and had already been active in protecting footpaths and promoting public access to open countryside. After the flooding of Thirlmere in 1879 to create a large reservoir, he became increasingly convinced that the only effective way to guarantee protection was outright ownership of land.

The purpose of National Trust is to preserve areas of natural beauty and sites of historic interest by acquisition, holding them in trust for the nation and making them available for public access and enjoyment. Some of its properties have been acquired through purchase, but many have been donated. Nowadays it is not only one of the biggest landowners in the country, but also one of the most active conservation charities, protecting 581,113 acre (253,176 ha) of land, including 555miles (892km) of coastline, and over 300 historic properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. (There is a separate National Trust for Scotland, which was set up in 1931.)

Furthermore, once a piece of land has come under National Trust ownership, it is difficult for its status to be altered. As a result of parliamentary legislation in 1907, the Trust given the right to declare its property inalienable, so ensuring that in any subsequent dispute it can appeal directly to parliament.

As it works towards in dual aims of conserving areas of attractive countryside and encouraging greater public access (not easy to reconcile in this age of mass tourism), the Trust provides an excellent service for walkers by creating new concessionary paths and waymarked trails, maintaining stiles and footbridges and combating the ever increasing problem of footpath erosion.

For details of membership contact the national trust:
Membership and general enquiries:
PO BOX 39
Bromley
Kent
BR1 3XL
Tel: 0870 458 4000

North West regional office:
The Hollens
Grasmere
Ambleside
Cumbria
LA22 9QZ
Tel: 015394 35599


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