CUMBRIAN CAPERS: WITHNAIL & I

 

The British actor Richard E. Grant has appeared in many films and TV series over the years, but the film he will be most remembered for must surely be Withnail & I, released in 1986, in which two unemployed actors, Withnail (Grant) and his friend (Paul McGann, appearing as ‘& I’ in the credits) retreat to the wilds of Cumbria for an eventful holiday.

It is Withnail’s Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) who provides the accommodation for the holiday, in the form of a cottage called Crow Cragg.  The real-life cottage seen in the film is Sleddale Hall, an early 19^th century derelict cottage near Shap to the west of the A6.  The view from the cottage takes in a reservoir, seen in the scene in which Withnail declares “I’m gonna be a star!”  This scene was shot in an elevated position overlooking Haweswater Reservoir in the valley of Mardale, between Ullswater and the M6.  The dam was started in 1929 to supply water to the large conurbations of the north-west such as Manchester, causing great controversy due to the necessity of moving people out of the local farming villages and flooding them. 

Longsleddale Haweswater reservoir - panoramio (1). Photo by  jim walton, via Wikimedia Commons.

Of the remaining scenes shot in Cumbria, among the most memorable are the scene in which Withnail takes to a red telephone kiosk to chase up his agent and the scene where he attempts a bit of fishing with a shotgun.  The red phone box is located in the village of Bampton, Cumbria, next to a bus stop on Wideworth Farm Road.  The phone box itself is something of a piece of national heritage, since phone boxes in general, and red ones in particular, are hard to come by in the age of the mobile phone.  I don’t know whether it was retained because of the film, but it has become something of a visitor attraction, with a book inside for visitors to leave comments.  The fishing scene was filmed on a picturesque stone bridge over the River Lowther near Shap.  The bridge is a short walk downhill from Sleddale Hall.  A good Ordnance Survey map should show the way, with the runoff from the reservoir clearly seen flowing into the river.

Bampton, Heading out the Village - geograph.org.uk - 2525564. Photo by Mick Garratt, via Wikimedia Commons.

A desperate quest for food has the pair knocking at the door of the local farmer’s mother, Mrs Parkin, who yells out at them through the closed door.  This scene was shot at Keld, Cumbria (not to be confused with the Keld in the Yorkshire Dales).  In a subsequent scene the farmer remonstrates with the pair for leaving a gate open, allowing an angry bull access to the lane they are about to walk down.  The gate in question is located at Scar Side Farm in Bampton. 

The locations featured in the film are easily reached from the eastern part of the Lake District, and the nearest large town is Penrith, to the north, in the Eden Valley, just to the east of the M6.

Map of the area.