The Campsie Fells (also known as the Campsies;

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: ''Monadh Chamaisidh'') are a range of hills in central

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, stretching east to west from Denny Muir to

Dumgoyne Dumgoyne is a hill prominent on the edge of the Campsie Fells and is a well-known landmark visible from Glasgow. It is a volcanic plug and is high. The plug is readily reached from a path beside Glengoyne Distillery or via a water-board track ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirli ...

and overlooking Strathkelvin to the south. The southern extent of the range falls within

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bear ...

. The range overlooks the villages of

Strathblane Strathblane ( gd, Strath Bhlàthain, ) is a village and parish in the registration county of Stirlingshire, situated in the southwestern part of the Stirling council area, in central Scotland. It lies at the foothills of the Campsie Fells and the ...

Blanefield Blanefield is a settlement in Scotland contiguous with Strathblane's northwestern fringe. To the west is the volcanic plug Dumgoyne, Glengoyne Distillery and the Trossachs National Park. The West Highland Way—a long-distance trail—passes ...

Milton Of Campsie Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free ...

Lennoxtown Lennoxtown ( gd, Baile na Leamhnachd, ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire council area and the historic county of Stirlingshire, Scotland at the foot of the Campsie Fells, which are just to the north. The town had a population of 4,094 at the 201 ...

and Torrance to the south;

Killearn Killearn (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cill Fhearann'', from orig. ''Ceann Fhearann'', "Head/End of (the) Land/Territory" – until the 15th century when ''Ceann'' was replaced by ''Cill''; denoting the presence of a house of worship) – is a smal ...

to the west, and

Fintry Fintry is a small riverside village in Stirlingshire, central Scotland. Landscape The village of Fintry sits on the strath of the Endrick Water in a valley between the Campsie Fells and the Fintry Hills. The name Fintry is said to have deri ...

and Strathendrick to the north. The

Fintry Hills The Fintry Hills form the western end of a range of hills which stretch west from the city of Stirling, Scotland. They culminate in the peak of Stronend, which overlooks Strathendrick and the village of Fintry. The northern, western and souther ...

lie further to the north;

Kilpatrick Hills The Kilpatrick Hills are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching from Dumbarton in the west to Strathblane in the east. Strathblane divides the Kilpatricks from the Campsie Fells to the east, while to the north is part of the Loch Lom ...

lie to the west and the Kilsyth Hills to the east.

Walking

Earl's Seat is the highest point of the Campsie Fells, measuring 578 m (1,896 ft). On the top of Earl's Seat is a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

. Two main ways of climbing Earl's Seat are by going past Dumgoyne from the Glengoyne Distillery or going up the Fin Glen from Clachan of Campsie.

Etymology

The name is taken from one of the individual hills in the range, called Campsie; meaning "crooked fairy hill", from the Scottish Gaelic ''cam'', meaning "crooked", and ''sìth'' meaning "fairy". "Fell" originates from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

word , meaning "hill".

Geology

Erosion along the line of a

geological fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

known as the

Campsie Fault Campsie may refer to: * Campsie, New South Wales, Australia * Campsie, Alberta, Canada * Campsie, County Tyrone, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Campsie Fells, range of hills in Scotland ** Campsie, Stirlingshire, historic civil pa ...

has left tiers of rock representing some 30

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

flows which date from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

period. The headwaters of the River Carron rise in the Campsies.

Cultural relevance

The Campsie Fells have cemented their place in history as the birthplace of Scottish skiing, when William W. Naismith of Glasgow skied the area, becoming the first ever man to ski in Scotland in March 1892. The

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

film ''

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', also known simply as ''The Meaning of Life'', is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. ''The Meaning of Life'' was the last f ...

'' used the Campsies as a location, standing in for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

during the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...

of 1879. On one day it was so cold that the extras acting as the Zulu warriors refused to put on their costumes and that day's filming was abandoned.

References

External links

* Computer-generated virtual panorama
Earl's Seat
{{coord, 56, 01, N, 4, 18, W, display=title, region:GB_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki Hills of the Scottish Midland Valley Volcanoes of Scotland Carboniferous volcanism Mountains and hills of Stirling (council area) Mountains and hills of East Dunbartonshire Mountain ranges of Scotland