Maiden Moor 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Lake District, it stands south of the town of Keswick and is part of the high ground that separates the

Newlands Valley The Newlands Valley is in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is regarded as one of the most picturesque and quiet valleys in the national park, even though it is situated very close to the popular tourist town of Keswick and ...

and

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland. It is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' ...

, it has a modest height of and so fails to be mentioned on many UK mountain lists but it does have a separate chapter in

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 ...

’s

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 ...

Name

The meaning of the fell's name is obscure, the name "Maiden" is given to many prehistoric

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s but there is no evidence that a hill fort ever existed on the fell, it may refer to a place where games or rituals were played where maidens took part.

Topography

The fell's main natural features are Bull Crag which lies below the summit on the Newlands side and the hollow of Yewthwaite Combe which stands beneath the col linking the fell with

Catbells Cat Bells is a fell in the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria. It has a height of and is one of the most popular fells in the area. It is situated on the western shore of Derwentwater within of the busy tourist town of Keswick. I ...

on the Newlands side.

Geology

The Maiden Moor ridge is an example of the Buttermere Formation, an

olistostrome An olistostrome is a sedimentary deposit composed of a chaotic mass of heterogeneous material, such as blocks and mud, known as olistoliths, that accumulates as a semifluid body by submarine gravity sliding or slumping of the unconsolidated sedi ...

of disrupted, sheared and folded mudstone, siltstone and

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 ...

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

Mining and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

The Combe is the site of the disused Yewthwaite

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 and there are extensive spoil heaps and old

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adit ...

s and shafts. The mine opened in the late 18th century and closed in 1893. This mine area was made famous by

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

as the location of the story ''" The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle"'', the story she dedicated to Lucy Carr, daughter of the vicar of

Newlands Church Newlands Church is a 16th-century church situated less than 500 metres west of the hamlet of Little Town, Cumbria, England in the Newlands Valley of the Lake District. Its exact date of origin is unknown, but a map of 1576 shows a "Newlande Cha ...

, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is supposed to have lived in one of the holes in the fell above the mine.

Ascents

Maiden Moor stands between two well known fells (Catbells and

High Spy High Spy is a fell in the English Lake District it is situated on the ridge that separates the Newlands Valley from Borrowdale, eight kilometres (five miles) south of Keswick. Topography The fell reaches a height of 653 metres (2142 ...

) and is part of the popular Newlands horseshoe walk, so it is often approached along the ridge from other fells by walkers whose main objective is a longer walk. However the fell can be climbed directly from Grange in Borrowdale and Little Town in the Newlands valley. Both routes climb to the col ( Hause Gate) linking the fell to Catbells and then ascend by the northern ridge. Approaching the top of the fell the path splits with the main path continuing to High Spy without (unusually) going over the highest point of the fell. The right hand fork follows the escarpment above Newlands to reach the summit which is crowned by a small cairn.

Summit

There is no easy way of discerning the exact highest point as the top is a level grassy plateau. There are excellent views across the Newlands valley to the Coledale fells and beyond.

References

* Complete Lakeland Fells, Bill Birkett, * A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, The North Western Fells: Alfred Wainwright:
Place Names of the Lake District
{{North Western Fells Fells of the Lake District