Grasmere Island is given to the National Trust

Grasmere Island had been in private hands for 124 years

The island which helped inspire the creation of the National Trust has been given to the organisation after more than 100 years in private ownership.

Sitting within Grasmere, in Cumbria, Grasmere Island came to the attention of a dismayed Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley when it was sold in 1893.

Canon Rawnsley, along with Sir Robert Hunter and Octavia Hill, went on to found the conservation group in 1895.

The island has been gifted to the organisation in a will.

It can be seen from Allan Bank House - a former home of poet William Wordsworth.

Dave Almond, National Trust manager for Allan Bank and Grasmere, said: "It's fantastic that 124 years after the private sale of Grasmere Island, the view that can be enjoyed from Allan Bank and that has inspired so many, will now be protected for ever, for everyone."

Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley was a defender of the Lake District

The island provides "a haven for wildlife" and a "magnificent veteran oak" tree, Mr Almond added.

Speaking when the island was put up for sale in 1893, Canon Rawnsley commented: "It is notorious that during the last two years the top of Snowdon, the island in the middle of Grasmere lake and the Lodore Falls have all come on to the market.

"Had such a trust as that now proposed been in existence, each of these places might have been obtained for the nation."