Grike is a hill in the west of the English
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
, near
Ennerdale Water
Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 150 feet (45 metres), and is ½ mile to a mile (700 to 1,500 metres) wide and 2½ miles (3.9 kilo ...
. It is part of the
Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the south of Ennerdale in the Western Fells. A sprawling hill with gentle grassy slopes it can be climbed from various points on the Coldfell road. It carries various remains from an ...
group, the most westerly
Wainwright as the
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 ...
s diminish toward the coastal plain. It can be climbed from Kinniside or Ennerdale Bridge.
Topography
The
Western Fells
The Western Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Great Gable they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale. The Western Fells are characterised by high ridges and an abundance of naked rock.
Partitio ...
occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and
Wasdale
Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwa ...
to the south east. Westwards, the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are
Great Gable
Great Gable is a mountain in the Lake District, United Kingdom. It is named after its appearance as a pyramid from Wasdale, though it is dome-shaped from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are ...
and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of
Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley.
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', published ...
: ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Volume 7 The Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1966): Grike stands at the extremity of the southern arm.
The main watershed runs broadly westwards from Great Gable, dividing the headwaters of Ennerdale and
Wasdale
Wasdale () is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwa ...
. The fells in this section are
Kirk Fell
Kirk Fell is a fell in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is situated between Great Gable and Pillar on the long ring of fells surrounding the valley of Ennerdale, and also stands over Wasdale to the south. However, it is sepa ...
,
Pillar
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...
,
Scoat Fell
Scoat Fell is a fell in the western part of the English Lake District. It stands at the head of the Mosedale Horseshoe with its back to Ennerdale. Paths lead to Scoat Fell from Ennerdale over Steeple, from Wasdale over Red Pike, and along ...
,
Haycock and
Caw Fell
Caw Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, standing between Haycock the Lank Rigg group. It occupies a wide upland area with Ennerdale to the north and Blengdale to the south. Caw Fell is distant from any point of access by Lakelan ...
. The surrounding valleys gradually diverge until other rivers spring up to drain the intervening country. Worm Gill is one such watercourse, running southwards from Caw Fell and forcing the ridge to detour northwards around the head of its valley. Beyond this stand the fells of the
Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the south of Ennerdale in the Western Fells. A sprawling hill with gentle grassy slopes it can be climbed from various points on the Coldfell road. It carries various remains from an ...
group, the final high country within the
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
.
Crag Fell
Crag Fell is a hill in the English Lake District. It is part of the Lank Rigg group, standing above Ennerdale Water in the Western Fells. The craggy northern face above the lake gives the fell its name, prominent in views from the car park at Bo ...
and Grike complete the westward line of the ridge, while Lank Rigg itself lies to the south across the head of the River Calder.
The western ridge of Crag Fell narrows to a marshy depression at 1,480 ft, before climbing again up the easy slopes of Grike. The southern flanks of both fells have been planted with a long belt of conifers, running down to the headwaters of the Calder. Grike's northern slopes are also forested where gradient and crags allow. The Ennerdale face is less impressive than that of Crag Fell, although deeply riven by the beds of Ben Gill and Red Gill. Grike looks down not upon the lake itself, but on the floodplain of the River Ehen, its outflowing stream.
West of the summit is a broad slope leading down to Heckbarley (1,280 ft), a wide plateau with little
prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
which is separated from the main fell by Stinking Gill and Goat Gill. Heckbarley has Grike's only real crags on its northern face. The ridge now turns south over a wooded depression to cross the minor tops of Blakeley Raise (1,276 ft), Burn Edge (1,050 ft) and Swarth Fell (1,099 ft). In his influential ''
Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...
'',
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', published ...
included only the first of these within the territory of Grike, although some later writers like Bill Birkett have added the whole of the ridge as far as the National Park boundary.
[Bill Birkett: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):] The Coldfell road runs along the western side of these tops.
Mining
Iron mines operated beneath the northern slopes of Grike and Crag Fell from 1860 to 1896. Levels were driven into the banks of Goat Gill and Red Gill, with the principal working, Main Drift Mine, between the two. The yields were never as great as hoped and the venture was a commercial failure.
[Adams, John: ''Mines of the Lake District Fells'': Dalesman (1995) ]
Summit
The top bears a massive stone
cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
together with two smaller ones, built from the many specimens lying near the summit on an otherwise grassy dome. The main cairn gives the fell its alternative local name, ''Stone Man''. A weather station is a rather more modern addition to the summit decorations.
The view seawards is extensive, but to the east the Lakeland panorama is partly obscured by Crag Fell. The horseshoe of the Western Fells is all that can be seen well, although the summits of
Dollywaggon Pike
Dollywaggon Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands on the main spine of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, between Thirlmere and the Ullswater catchment.
Name
The spelling ‘Dollywaggon’ is used on Ordnance Survey 1:25 ...
and
Fairfield put in unexpected appearances, along with
Skiddaw
Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is the sixth-highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the ...
and a small section of the North Western Fells. The foot of Ennerdale Water is also in sight.
Ascents
From Ennerdale Bridge, or the car parks near the outflow of the lake, the lane to Crag Farm can be used to give access onto the fell. A good path makes for Crag Fell and this can be followed as far as Ben Gill before turning right up the hillside. The Coldfell road provides another starting point, a track heading eastward from near the
Kinniside Stone Circle. This was once the road to the Crag Fell Iron Mines and crosses the initial ridge between Heckbarley and Blakeley Raise. It then contours along the southern flank of Grike, just above the trees.
Gallery
File: Grike_from_Ennerdale.jpg, The North face of Grike from Ennderdale
File: Grike_from_Crag_Fell.jpg, Eastern aspect of Grike from Crag Fell
References
{{Western Fells
Fells of the Lake District
Borough of Copeland