An occasional writer's journal

The greatest of writers would be challenged to describe the feelings of Cumbria’s bookshop owners left to survey the soggy remains of their stock after the worst flooding on record devastated homes and businesses.

William Wordsworth

Bookshops define the quaint village of Cockermouth, birthplace of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, which bore the brunt of a flood described as “Biblical” in its scale and impact. Yet you can’t imagine any business more difficult to recover after a flood, as demonstrated by the tide marks of mud and silt that now line the village bookshelves within a yard of the ceiling.

Valuable books, maps and prints, collectable magazines and journals, lie in sodden tatters as owners begin mopping up after days of being kept away from their premises for fear of hidden dangers and the risk of further flooding.

Around 1,300 homes have been washed out in England’s north-western Lake District during flash floods that extended into southern Scotland and Wales, suggesting a final bill for insurance claims of between £50m and £100m.

The National Trust has launched an emergency appeal to repair its historic properties in the area including Wordsworth House, childhood home of the poet and his sister Dorothy in Cockermouth. A popular tourist attraction, it gives visitors an idea of family life for the Wordsworths in the 1770s and was reopened only five years ago after an £800,000 facelift, part-funded by the National Lottery.

Wordsworth House, Cockermouth

The present priority for the National Trust is the restoration of miles of rural roadways and barriers in association with local farmers in order to protect their livestock. John Darlington, local operations director, said, “Drystone walls are down, livestock lost; tracks and roads blasted by the sheer volume of water, meaning months of hard work ahead for Lake District farmers and our own teams.”

The community has been devastated by the death of local police constable Bill Barker, who was swept away by the swollen River Derwent when a bridge collapsed as he tried to direct traffic and warn others of the danger. As I write this entry, flood warnings are still in force and at least one more bridge is in danger of collapse.

The local parish priest, Canon Bryan Rowe, told local newspaper the Post & Star, “The whole community is hurting. We are isolated.

“Cumbrians are a unique breed. They say what they see. They are hands-on people.

“They will twine and moan but then they will just get on with it. They won’t sit back and say ‘why has this happened to me?’”

Wordsworth (1770-1850) is best known for the immortal line, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” from Daffodils, and for his opus The Prelude.

Donate to the National Trust’s Lake District Flood Appeal