Great Rigg is a

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...

in the English Lake District, 7 kilometres (4½ miles) north-west of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

and reaching a height of 766 metres (2,513 feet). It is most often climbed as part of the

Fairfield horseshoe Fairfield Horseshoe is a classic circular hillwalking ridge walk route starting from Rydal or Ambleside in the English Lake District that takes in all the fells that surround the valley of the Rydal Beck. The round The walk is extremely popular ...

, a 16-km circular walk which starts and finishes in Ambleside. The fell's name originates from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

"Rigg", meaning a bumpy or knobbly ridge.

Topography

Great Rigg is mostly without merit, being just an undulation on one of Fairfield's southern ridges; with 31 metres of prominence it just qualifies as a Hewitt. It is best seen from the south-west near Grasmere where from that angle its summit seems to dominate the valley. The fell is rocky on its eastern side as Stone Cove drops to Rydal Beck; on its western flank it is mostly grassy as it falls away to Tongue Gill; to the north and south are ridges which continue to other fells, with Fairfield being 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) away to the north while Heron Pike lies 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) to the south. There is a third less-significant ridge going south-west towards Grasmere which has the ‘Wainwright’ fell of Stone Arthur on its shoulder overlooking Grasmere.

Geology

Volcaniclastic Volcaniclastics are geologic materials composed of broken fragments ( clasts) of volcanic rock. These encompass all clastic volcanic materials, regardless of what process fragmented the rock, how it was subsequently transported, what environment it ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

of the Esk Pike Formation makes up the summit area. Beneath is the

dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyol ...

lapilli-

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

of the Lincomb Tarns Formation. British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999)

Ascents

As mentioned Great Rigg is usually climbed as part of the Fairfield horseshoe (Fairfield lies close by to the north). However, a direct ascent of sorts can be done from Grasmere up the south-west ridge taking in Stone Arthur on the way. This walk can be continued to Fairfield and

Seat Sandal Seat Sandal is a fell in the English Lake District, situated four kilometres (2½ miles) north of the village of Grasmere from where it is very well seen. Nevertheless, it tends to be overshadowed by its more illustrious neighbours in the Eas ...

before returning to Grasmere to complete a 10-km circular walk.

Summit

The summit is crowned by a substantial cairn, which is named on large-scale maps as Greatrigg Man. There are good views of the Lakeland mountains to the west, a distinctive feature of the outlook being the large number of lakes and

tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...

that are in view, with ten sizeable bodies of water well seen.

References

* ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Eastern Fells'', Alfred Wainwright, * ''Complete Lakeland Fells'', Bill Birkett, {{Eastern Fells Hewitts of England Fells of the Lake District Nuttalls