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Pen-y-ghent or Penyghent 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 Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...
in the
Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...
, England. It is the lowest of Yorkshire's Three Peaks at ; the other two being
Ingleborough Ingleborough () is the second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks (the other two being Whernside and Pen-y-ghent), and is frequently climbed as part of the Three Peaks walk. A large part o ...
and
Whernside Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. It is the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North YorkshireMickle Fel ...
. It lies east of
Horton in Ribblesdale Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent. Its population in the 2001 census ...
. It has a number of interesting geological features, such as Hunt Pot, and further down, Hull Pot. The waters that flow in have created an extensive cave system which rises at Brants Gill head. In 2004 the body of Lamduan Armitage, dubbed by the media the "Lady of the Hills", was found near to the entrance of Sell Gill Hole.


Etymology

In the
Cumbric language Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...
, exactly as in today's
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
, ''pen'' meant 'top' or 'head', and ''y'' is most likely the definite article (''the''), exactly as in Modern Welsh ''y'' (compare
Pen-y-berth Penyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, Gwynedd, Penrhos, on the Llŷn Peninsula near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, and also a way-station for pilgrims to Bardsey Island, but destroyed in 1936 in ...
'end of the hedge/copse', or
Pen-y-ffordd Pen-y-ffordd is a hamlet in Flintshire, Wales. It is located between Holywell and Prestatyn, to the north west of Mostyn. The actor and writer Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a ...
'head of the road/way', etc.). The element ''ghent'' is more obscure, it could be taken to be 'edge' or 'border'. The name ''Pen-y-ghent'' could therefore mean 'Hill on the border' (compare
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
). Or else, the final element may be ''gïnt'', meaning "a heathen, a gentile" (<
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''gentis''; c.f. Welsh ''gynt''), presumably in reference to Scandinavian pagans. It is also acceptable to write the name as ''Pen y Ghent'' rather than ''Pen-y-ghent''.


Geography

Pen-y-Ghent is made up of a millstone grit top upon a bed of carboniferous limestone. The summit acts as a watershed with water flowing east into the
River Skirfare River Skirfare is a small river in North Yorkshire, England, that flows through Littondale and ends where it joins the larger River Wharfe. The source is the confluence of Foxup Beck and Cosh Beck at the hamlet of Foxup. The name is of Old N ...
and on through to the Humber Estuary, and water flowing west dropping into the
River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...
, to ultimately flow into the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
. The distinctive rakes that adorn the hillside (particularly on the western edge of Pen-y-Ghent) were revealed during a great storm in July 1881. The ferocity of the water cascading down the hillside removed the topsoil and revealed the rakes beneath. Hull Pot Beck rises on the western side of
Plover Hill Plover Hill is an area of moorland lying to the north of Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales and connected to it by an unbroken area of high ground. Whilst the whole area is now "open access land", the main right-of-way footpaths come directly fr ...
and flows into Hull Pot, which is the largest natural hole in England. Hull Pot measures long by wide and deep. The water then flows under Horton Moor before re-appearing just east of Horton in Ribblesdale as Brants Ghyll Beck, where it flows into the River Ribble. Local legend has it that the waters from Hull Pot and Hunt Pot cross each other underground without mixing. This is said to have first been noted when a sheep wash was undertaken in one stream thereby making it muddy, and the husks of oats being dropped into the other stream and both having exited into the Ribble without mixing together.


Hiking

The
Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...
links the summit to the village; the route is around in length as the Way curves initially to the north before turning east to reach the summit. The more direct route that traverses the southern 'nose' of the hill is the route usually taken by those attempting the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, as the walk is usually (but not exclusively) done in an
anti-clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite s ...
direction starting and finishing in
Horton in Ribblesdale Horton in Ribblesdale is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in Ribblesdale on the Settle–Carlisle Railway to the west of Pen-y-ghent. Its population in the 2001 census ...
. The other main
hillwalking Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much unculti ...
route on the hill heads north from the summit to reach
Plover Hill Plover Hill is an area of moorland lying to the north of Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales and connected to it by an unbroken area of high ground. Whilst the whole area is now "open access land", the main right-of-way footpaths come directly fr ...
before descending to join Foxup Road, a bridleway at the head of
Littondale Littondale is a dale in the Craven district of the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. It comprises the main settlements of Hawkswick, Arncliffe, Litton, Foxup and Halton Gill, and farmhouses that date from the 17th century. ...
. Pen-y-ghent is one of the mountains on the
Yorkshire Three Peaks The mountains of Whernside (), Ingleborough () and Pen-y-ghent () are collectively known as the Three Peaks. The peaks, which form part of the Pennine range, encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National ...
route.


References


Bibliography

* Bibby, Andrew (2008)
''The Backbone of England''
London: Francis Lincoln Limited * Ekwall, Eilert (1960), ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names'', 4th ed., Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...


External links

* Computer generated summit panorama
Pen-y-ghent

Photos of Pen-y-ghent and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk


{{Authority control Marilyns of England Hewitts of England Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales Nuttalls Sites of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire Yorkshire Three Peaks