Great Whernside 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 Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...

in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

, England, not to be confused with

Whernside Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. It is the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North YorkshireMickle Fel ...

, some to the west. Its summit is the highest point of the eastern flank of

Wharfedale Wharfedale ( ) is the valley of the upper parts of the River Wharfe and one of the Yorkshire Dales. It is situated within the districts of Craven and Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It is ...

above

Kettlewell Kettlewell is a village in Upper Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies north of Grassington, at the point where Wharfedale is joined by a minor road (Cam Gill Road) which leads north ...

. Great Whernside forms the watershed between Wharfedale and

Nidderdale Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows south underground and then ...

, and is on the boundary between the Yorkshire Dales National Park and

Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Nidderdale AONB is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Yorkshire, England, bordering the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the east and south. It comprises most of Nidderdale itself, part of lower Wharfedale, the Washburn valley a ...

. The River Nidd rises on the eastern slopes of Great Whernside, above

Angram Reservoir Angram Reservoir is the first of three reservoirs on the River Nidd in Upper Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, the others being Scar House Reservoir and finally the compensation reservoir Gouthwaite Reservoir. It is located at OS map refe ...

Name

The name ''Whernside'', first recorded in 1214 as ''Querneside'', is of

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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

origin. It is derived from ''cweorn'' '

quern Quern ( da, Kværn) is a former municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populo ...

' or 'millstone' and ''sīde'' 'hillside', so means "hillside where millstones are found". The upper part of the hill is composed of millstone grit, and there were once quarries on the Wharfedale side. According to one source the name was originally applied to the hillside on the Wharfedale side, and then extended to the whole hill as seen from Wharfedale. The hill as seen from Nidderdale was known as ''Blackfell''. The addition of ''Great'' was first recorded in 1771, apparently to distinguish the hill from Little Whernside.

Access

Until 1997 no public

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

was established to the summit of Great Whernside. In that year two public footpaths were registered, one from Kettlewell in Wharfedale to the summit and one along the summit ridge. Following the

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), known informally as the CRoW Act or "Right to Roam" Act is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act imp ...

large parts of the

became open access land. Great Whernside can be ascended from Kettlewell, or by a shorter route above Park Rash on the minor road from Kettlewell to Coverdale. It can also be ascended by a longer, less popular, route from

Scar House Reservoir Scar House Reservoir is the second of the three reservoirs in Upper Nidderdale, England, the others being Angram Reservoir and Gouthwaite Reservoir. Between them they attract around 150,000 visitors a year. Angram and Scar House were built to ...

. Routes from the East are often boggy even after prolonged dry weather.

Surroundings

Little Whernside, northeast of Great Whernside, forms the watershed between Coverdale and Nidderdale. Hag Dyke, halfway between Kettlewell and the summit, is a hostel run by 1st Ben Rhydding Scout Group in Ilkley. The fell is the site of several aircraft crashes. Tor Dike (situated on the north western flank) is an earthwork with ditch and rampart constructed in the limestone. It appears to have been built either by Iron Age tribes, perhaps in the 1st century AD, to protect themselves from the invading Romans, or in the Dark Ages.

References

External links

{{Marilyns N Eng Marilyns of England Hewitts of England Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales Nuttalls Wharfedale Nidderdale