AN Ulverston lawyer with a love of the Lake District has been remembered for his key role in preserving the unspoilt beauty of Ullswater.

It is now 55 years since the lake was saved from becoming a reservoir and to mark the anniversary a slate memorial has been unveiled to Lord Norman Birkett.

In the early 1960s Manchester Corporation Waterworks proposed the building of a weir on the River Eamont at Pooley Bridge.

This would have created a reservoir which raised the level of the lake by three feet.

There was a huge public outcry which led to the formation of the Ullswater Preservation Society and a petition of more than 500,000 names.

The controversial plan was debated in the House of Lords on February 8 in 1962.

Among the most notable speeches came from Lord Birkett QC and the proposals were defeated.

He said to Manchester: “Thus far and no farther. Go away. Come again another day, if you will.

“But in the meantime, do that which ought to have been done before. Produce the hydrological data on which the House can come to a proper decision. Until that is done, you have no right whatever to invade the sanctity of a National Park.”

Lord Birkett died of a heart attack just a few days after his decisive intervention.

The plaque to mark his victory is at a viewpoint at Pooley Bridge, near the steamer pier, and was carved by Pip Hall.

It has the wording: “Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice” which is from Christopher Wren’s monument in St Paul’s Cathedral.

It means: “If you seek his memorial - look around you.”

The reservoir scheme was one of Manchester’s potential solution’s to a a serious water shortage.

Manchester Corporation already took water from reservoirs at Haweswater and Thirlmere.

The city returned with a successful and much smaller scheme to take water from Ullswater – taken by tunnel to Haweswater under strict conditions.

William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett, lived from September 6 in 1883 to February 10 in 1962.

He was a leading barrister, judge, politician and preacher who served as the alternate British judge during the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals after the Second World War.

He was a former pupil of Barrow Grammar School, now the Furness Academy site.

As a top criminal defence lawyer and was involved in a number of famous cases including the second of the Brighton trunk murders.

He was twice a Nottingham MP for the Liberals in 1923 and 1929.