Digitising the Joseph Hardman Archive: The Bowder Stone- A Geological Puzzle

The Bowder (or Boulder Stone) is a large, balanced piece of rock that was deposited in Keswick. The 2000 ton stone measures 30ft in height, 50ft across and has a circumference of 90ft. It is not composed of a rock type native to the area and it has been suggested that the stone may be a 'glacial erratic', a rock carried by a glacier, probably originating in Scotland during the last ice age. It's name is thought to derive from the son of the Norse God Odin, 'Balder'. At present, the area surrounding the stone is owned by the National Trust but it was originally purchased by a gentleman called John Pocklington in 1798, and he is responsible for erecting the ladder still present today, allowing visitors to climb on top of the stone. Mr Pocklington also built a 'mock' hermitage for a lady guide at the stone. The area underneath the stone has been dug out slightly to allow visitors to climb under the stone and reach around to hold hands with one another. The stone is currently leased to Northumbria Mountaineering Club for use as a climbing resource.

An alternative theory to the Bowder Stone is that it was deposited as a result of a rock fall from nearby crags. There are no abrasions on the rock which would be expected if it were to have been carried by a glacier and the rock is the same rock type as that found at the Hells Wall area of Bouder Crag nearby. The Bowder Stone is a fine grained, Andesite lava rock which was created during the Ordovician period. This has been concluded from its composition of between 65-50 % silica. It is therefore c. 4 million years old and is probably part of the Borrowdale volcanic rock group.

The Bowder Stone has a very enigmatic appearance within it's landscape and has been painted by a number of landscape artists. John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893) depicted the stone in oil on canvas. in Romanticism style, in his painting produced sometime between 1863 and 1868. The painting is now part of the Tate Collection. The stone has also been painted by E Hodder which can be viewed on the 'Your Paintings' website. Other artwork is also held in collections at Leeds, these pieces are said to depict great realism and the detail of the stone.

I have found many black and white glass plate negatives within the Joseph Hardman archive capturing the stone, including those visitors brave enough to climb on top of it!

References

www.visitcumbria.com/kes/the-bowder.stone.htm
www.wikipaintings.org/en/john-atkinson-grimshaw/bowder_stone_borrowdale
Lava in the Lakes- The Bowder Stone (website)
www.geocaching.com/seek/cache-details.aspx?guid=le479fe4-86f1-4429-bdOb-df3bdcb2c22e
www.suite101.com/article/the-bowderstone-in-the-lake-district-a/57576
The Story of the Bowder Stone by Alan Smith Rigg Side Publications (2003)