Harwood Common

Burnhope Seat is a high

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

fell in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies between the heads of the

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s Tees,

South Tyne South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in m ...

. The summit is crossed by the boundary between

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

and

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. Cumb ...

(historically

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

). The trig point is the highest point in

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

County Durham. However, this is not quite the summit of the mountain (which lies 400 m west and 1 m higher across the border into historic Cumberland). Mickle Fell, south of Teesdale is higher than Burnhope Seat and is sometimes quoted as being the highest top of County Durham, but this is historically not correct. Mickle Fell, although it lies within the unitary council area of

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

for administrative purposes, is historically a part of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

, and is the highest point in that county. The character of the fell is very typical of the high

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

, with an extensive and poorly drained summit plateau of tussock grass and peat bog. The B6277 road between Alston and Middleton-in-Teesdale passes within 2 km of the summit, thus providing the easiest route of ascent. The hill may also be climbed from Weardale as part of high-level circuit of

Burnhope Reservoir Burnhope Reservoir ( ) is a reservoir above the village of Wearhead, County Durham, England. The reservoir was created by the construction of an earth embankment dam across the valley of Burnhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear, above W ...

. There are some ski-tows on the northwest slopes of the hill - this forms the ''Yad Moss'' ski facility,Yad Moss snow slope
/ref> which has recently been upgraded by

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

. The entire area is designated "access land" under the terms of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Marilyns of England Hewitts of England Mountains and hills of the Pennines Mountains and hills of Cumbria Mountains and hills of County Durham Nuttalls Highest points of English counties Ski areas and resorts in England Eden District Stanhope, County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub