Middle Fell is a hill or
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 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 ...
. It is a satellite of
Seatallan
Seatallan is a mountain in the western part of the English Lake District. It is rounded, grassy and fairly unassuming, occupying a large amount of land. However, it is classed as a Marilyn because of the low elevation of the col connecting it t ...
standing above the northern shore of
Wastwater
Wast Water or Wastwater () is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost long and more than wide. It is a glacial lake, formed in a glacially 'over-deepened' valley ...
. Middle Fell can be climbed from Greendale near the foot of Wastwater, and a fine view of the lake backed by the Wastwater Screes is visible from the summit.
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): Middle Fell is an outlier 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 ...
. Travelling in this direction the principal hills 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 ...
. Haycock sends out a long southern ridge terminating in
Seatallan
Seatallan is a mountain in the western part of the English Lake District. It is rounded, grassy and fairly unassuming, occupying a large amount of land. However, it is classed as a Marilyn because of the low elevation of the col connecting it t ...
and Seatallan in turn has a south eastern spur. This is Middle Fell.
Middle Fell begins at the unnamed
col on the eastern face of Seatallan at a height of 1,525 ft. This is its only connection with other high ground, being constrained on three sides by deep valleys. To the west, separating Middle Fell from its parent, is Greendale Gill. This begins at Greendale Tarn, nestled into the steep face of Middle Fell. The
tarn, around 30 ft deep, sits in a long narrow bowl, looked down on by a collection of huge boulders.
[Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): ]
To the east is Nether Beck, flowing down to the Lake through its long valley. On the other side are the long southern slopes of
Red Pike. The southern slopes of Middle Fell fall to the shore of Wastwater, claiming a long section of the northern shore between Nether Beck Bridge and the Greendale road junction. Goat Gill and Smithy Beck provide further drainage on this side.
Middle Fell is steep on all sides. The western face is rough with areas of scree and boulders, but generally free of crags. The longer eastern slopes by contrast have tier upon tier of rocks. Long, Water, Goat, Foegill and Iron Crags are the principal features. The ridge northward to Seatallan is broad, levelling out onto grass after an initial rough descent.
Geology
The summit area is composed of the
dacitic
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite ...
, welded
lapilli
Lapilli is a size classification of tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. ''Lapilli'' (singular: ''lapillus'') is Latin for "little stones".
By definition lapilli range f ...
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
of the Lincomb Tarns Formation.
Andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
lapilli tuff occurs on either end of the ridge, together with small intrusions of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and
dolerite
Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro,
is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...
. Underlying this is the Birker Fell Formation of
plagioclase
Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more prope ...
-phyric andesite
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
s.
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research.
The BGS h ...
: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 38'': BGS (1998)
Summit
The summit
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 ...
is sited on a small rock outcrop, close to the beginning of the ridge-end descent to the south. The view across Wastwater to the screes of
Whin Rigg
Whin Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District, situated in the western segment of the national park, 22 kilometres south east of the town of Whitehaven. It reaches only a modest altitude of 535 m (1,755 ft) but is part of one of the ...
and
Illgill Head
Illgill Head is a fell in the English Lake District. It is known more commonly as the northern portion of the Wastwater Screes. The fell is 609 metres high and stands along the south-east shore of Wastwater, the deepest lake in England.
T ...
is excellent. Also in view is the head of Wasdale and the more distant
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 Kingdo ...
.
Black Combe
Black Combe is a fell in the south-west corner of the Lake District National Park, England, just from the Irish Sea. It lies near the west coast of Cumbria in the borough of Copeland and more specifically, in the ancient district of Millom. ...
appears far off to the south west.
Ascents
The simplest ascent is via a path up the nose of the ridge, beginning at Greendale. A longer alternative climbs the beck to Greendale Tarn before doubling back to the summit along the Seatallan ridge. A circular tour can be contrived via Seatallan and
Buckbarrow
Buckbarrow is a small fell in the English Lake District overlooking the western end of Wastwater. It is featured in Alfred Wainwright’s ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' and is given a height of 1,410 ft approximately; however, th ...
.
[Bill Birkett:''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994): ]
References
{{Lake District West
Fells of the Lake District
Borough of Copeland