BASSENTHWAITE Lake isn’t a lake at all. Its a railway station.
The railway engineers had the option of serving Bassenthwaite by going north of Broadwater, with a station near the village, or south of it, with a station near the lake, at Dubwath.
The railway called that station “Bassenthwaite Lake Station”, to distinguish it from the proposed “Bassenthwaite Village Station” – but the arriving tourists thought that was the name of the lake.
Eventually, Ordnance Survey gave up trying to keep the proper name and so Broadwater now appears on maps as “Bassenthwaite Lake”.
Although Derwentwater has long been known as “Keswick Lake” in West Cumberland, the Ordnance Survey has so far managed to keep its resolve and stick with the proper name.
The railway caused the opposite at Windermere. When it reached the small town of Birthwaite, it decided to call the station there “Windermere” as the Lake District connection would bring more traffic than Birthwaite the town ever could.
So the visitors arriving by train thought the town was called “Windermere” because that’s what the town’s station was called.
Thanks to Andy Smith for this piece of info!