Accession Number

B460

Series Title

[UNKNOWN]

Programme Title

A MARVELLOUS PIECE OF ILLOGICAL ENGLISH HISTORY

Producer

Tony Broughton and Tony Wilkie Millar

Other Credits

Editor: George Bailey

Transmission Date

09/07/84

colour , sound (sep), 29 mins 54 secs

Synopsis

Programme which follows Michael Berry, Lake District hotelier, in his quest to rescue and restore the "Rock of Names" - a rock containing the carved initials of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and friends, which was originally next to Thirlmere (where the poets used to meet) and lay unnoticed in woods near Thirlmere for ninety-eight years. Master Stonemason Brian Johnson from Bowness-on-Windermere is shown breaking up the rock and putting it back together in his workshop. A ceremony is shown in which Berry hands over the rock to the trustees of Dove Cottage and newspaper cutting are shown about a row over a lack of consultation with local people. Berry is interviewed about how he discovered the rock of names and his desire to share it with the public. Includes general views of Thirlmere, Dove Cottage in Grasmere and several paintings of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Lakeand scenes.