![Vale of Keswick from Grisedale Pike](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Vale_of_Keswick_from_Grisedale_Pike.jpg)
Grisedale Pike 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
Lake District,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, England, situated west of the town of
Keswick in the
north-western sector of the
national park. At a height of 791 m (2593 feet) it is the 40th-highest
Wainwright in the Lake District; it also qualifies as a
Hewitt,
Marilyn and
Nuttall. Grisedale Pike presents a striking appearance when viewed from the east, particularly from the vicinity of Keswick. It possesses two subsidiary summits: one unnamed (usually referred to as 'subsidiary summit', situated above Hobcarton Crag); the other Hobcarton End.
Topography
Grisedale Pike is a large fell throwing down three long ridges to the valley floors and two shorter ones that link to the adjoining fell of
Hopegill Head
Hopegill Head is a fell in the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is located nine kilometres (5½ miles) west of the town of Keswick and is well seen from the B5292 road which crosses the Whinlatter Pass.
Topography
Hopegill Head is the ...
and the strategically important
Coledale Hause
Hill passes of the Lake District were originally used by people in one valley travelling to another nearby without having to go many miles around a steep ridge of intervening hills. Historically, in the Lake District of northwest England, trave ...
which links the fell to the rest of the Coledale Fells. It is bounded to the south by the 2½-mile (4-kilometre) valley of Coledale and to the north by the
Whinlatter Pass which carries the
B5292 motor road. The village of
Braithwaite
Braithwaite is a village in the northern Lake District, in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just to the west of Keswick and to the east of the Grisedale Pike ridge, in the Borough of Allerdale. It forms part of the ...
sits at the foot of the long eastern ridge, and some of the northern slopes have been planted by the
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England.
The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...
, with the Hospital Plantation occupying much of the valley of Grisedale.
Geology
The ridge is composed of the laminated
mudstone and
siltstone of the Kirkstile Formation, typical of the
Skiddaw group.
[British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999)]
The
Coledale side of the fell has been extensively mined, with the
Force Crag mine being the last working
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
mine in the Lake District before closing in 1990; it also produced
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
and
barite. The mine has had many owners and been closed and reopened regularly since the early nineteenth century. The mine suffered a major collapse in 1990 which led to the owners, the New Coledale Mining Company, deciding to close it.
Ascents
The majority of ascents of Grisedale Pike usually start at the village of Braithwaite using a well blazed trail up the eastern ridge. An alternative ascent starts at a car park in Hospital Plantation near the top of the Whinlatter Pass and goes up the northern ridge taking in the “Nuttall” top of Hobcarton End before continuing to the summit. From the same starting point it is possible to climb the fell up the north eastern ridge following a ruined
dry stone wall
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
.
Grisedale Pike is often included in the circular walk called the Coledale Round, an 11-mile (17.5-kilometre) walk starting and finishing at Braithwaite. It includes the other fells of
Hopegill Head
Hopegill Head is a fell in the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is located nine kilometres (5½ miles) west of the town of Keswick and is well seen from the B5292 road which crosses the Whinlatter Pass.
Topography
Hopegill Head is the ...
,
Eel Crag,
Sail,
Scar Crags
Scar Crags is a fell in the north western part of the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria. It is one of the Coledale group of fells situated seven kilometres south west of Keswick and reaches a height of 672 metres (2205 feet).
...
and
Causey Pike with over 1300 metres of ascent. The view from the top of the fell is comprehensive with the Cumbrian coast in view to the west and the
Pennines seen in the distance to the east. Grisedale Pike has a subsidiary top, 800 metres to the south west of the main summit. It is unnamed on maps but has been given the name of
Hobcarton Crag by writers: at 739 metres (2425 feet) it has
Nuttall and
Hewitt status.
Summit
A description of the view from west round clockwise, from thi
computer-generated panorama
The hills near Belfast (about away) are visible over the sea to the west. In the north, the
Southern Uplands
The Southern Uplands ( gd, Na Monaidhean a Deas) are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the other two being the Central Lowlands and the Grampian Mountains and the Highlands, as illustrate ...
of Scotland can be seen, including
Merrick (62),
White Coomb
White Coomb is a hill in the Moffat Hills range, part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Its broad summit is the highest point in the range and the registration county of Dumfriesshire, as well as being the fourth highest point in southern Sc ...
(58) and the closer
Criffel
Criffel is a hill in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is high but appears higher because of its great isolation and high prominence. It is a prominent feature in many of the views from ...
(28). In the foreground to this is the
Lord's Seat
Lord's Seat is a fell in the English Lake District. It is the highest of the group of hills north of Whinlatter Pass in the North Western Fells. The slopes of Lord's Seat are extensively forested.
Topography
The North Western Fells occupy ...
group (3).
The distant skyline continues over the
Kielder Forest
Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...
hills (55) to reach
The Cheviot
The Cheviot () is an extinct volcano and the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills and in the county of Northumberland. Located in the extreme north of England, it is a walk from the Scottish border and, with a height of above sea-level, is lo ...
(75) before it is interrupted by the
Skiddaw group (6) and
Blencathra
Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly hills in the English Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top at 2,848 feet (868 metres).
Name
For many years, Ordnance Sur ...
(8) with the Vale of
Keswick and
Bassenthwaite Lake
Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the English Lake District. It is long and narrow, approximately long and wide, but is also extremely shallow, with a maximum depth of about .
It is the only body of water in the Lake ...
in the foreground. The section of the
Pennines containing
Cross Fell
Cross Fell is the highest mountain in the Pennines of Northern England and the highest point in England outside the Lake District. It is located in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies within the county of Cumbria and ...
(31) is visible.
The
Helvellyn range
The Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, "fell" being the local word for "hill". The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest summit of the group.
The Helvellyn range forms a ridge exten ...
(10) occupies the skyline to the east, fronted by the
High Seat ridge (6), and in front of that,
Catbells (3) and
Causey Pike (2).
Ingleborough (45) can be seen to the south-east. Then come the
Langdale Pikes
Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...
(11), the
Coniston Fells
Coniston may refer to:
Australia
* Coniston (Northern Territory), a cattle station
**Coniston massacre, 1928
*Coniston, New South Wales
** Coniston railway station, New South Wales
* Coniston, Tasmania, a town in the Derwent Valley
United Kingd ...
(14),
Bowfell (10) and
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
(10) with the
Dale Head group (5) in front.
To the south-west the view is dominated by
Crag Hill
Crag Hill is a mountain in the North Western part of the English Lake District. It was formerly known as Eel Crag; however, the Ordnance Survey now marks Eel Crag as referring to the northern crags of the fell.
It is not to be confused with an ...
(1) and
Grasmoor (2). A small portion of Wales (107) is visible to Crag Hill's left. To the west, above
Hopegill Head
Hopegill Head is a fell in the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is located nine kilometres (5½ miles) west of the town of Keswick and is well seen from the B5292 road which crosses the Whinlatter Pass.
Topography
Hopegill Head is the ...
(1), can be seen the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
(54) and
Slieve Donard
Slieve Donard ( ; ) is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland and the wider province of Ulster, with a height of . The highest of the Mourne Mountains, it is near the town of Newcastle on the eastern coast of County Down, overlooking the Iri ...
in Northern Ireland (112), the most distant peak visible.
References
*
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'', publis ...
: ''
A 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 ...
, Book 6, The North Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1964):
* Bill Birkett: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):
{{Marilyns N Eng
Marilyns of England
Hewitts of England
Fells of the Lake District
Nuttalls
Allerdale