This is a long-term monitoring dataset of surface temperature, surface oxygen, water clarity, water chemistry and phytoplankton chlorophyll a from fortnightly sampling by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (and previously the Institute of Freshwater Ecology) at Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria, England. The data available to download comprise surface temperature (TEMP) in degree Celsius, surface oxygen saturation (OXYG) in % air-saturation, Secchi depth (SECC) in metres, alkalinity (ALKA) in µg per litre as CaCO3 and pH. Ammonium (NH4N), nitrate (NO3N), soluble reactive phosphate (PO4P), total phosphorus (TOTP), dissolved reactive silicon expressed as SiO2 (SIO2) and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (TOCA) are all given in µg per litre. Water samples are based on a sample integrated from 0 to 5 m. Measurements are made from a boat at a marked location (buoy) at the deepest part of the lake. When it was not possible to visit the buoy, samples were taken from the shore, thus water samples were not integrated on these occasions, marked as Flag 2. All data are from August 1990 until the end of 2013. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/91d763f2-978d-4891-b3c6-f41d29b45d55