Wasdale () is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the western part of the

Lake District National Park The Lake District National Park is a national park in North West England that includes all of the central Lake District, though the town of Kendal, some coastal areas, and the Lakeland Peninsulas are outside the park boundary. The area was desi ...

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. ...

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 ...

. The

River Irt The River Irt is a river in the county of Cumbria in northern England. It flows for from the south-western end of Wast Water, the deepest lake in England, leaving the lake at the foot of Whin Rigg, the southern peak of the famous Wastwater ...

flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwater, the deepest lake in England (). The population of Wasdale was only minimal and, from the 2011 Census is included in the parish of

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...

Geographical features

On the south-eastern side of the lake are very steep

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...

s below the summits of Whin Rigg and Illgill Head which are more accessible on the far side. The head of the valley is dominated by the

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

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 ...

, the highest peak in England, which, along with Scafell, Kirk Fell and Yewbarrow, surround the small community of

Wasdale Head Wasdale Head is a scattered agricultural hamlet in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Wasdale Head claims to be home of the highest mountain (Scafell Pike), deepest lake ( Wastwater), smallest church and biggest liar in E ...

. Wasdale is famous amongst rock climbers as the home of British

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically a ...

. A classic route is Nape's Needle on

Settlements

At the hamlet of Wasdale Head is St Olaf's Church, one of the smallest

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

es in England. Further down the valley are the villages of Strands and

Fells

Clockwise from the north-west:- * Seatallan **

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 ...

Middle Fell Middle Fell is a hill or fell in the English Lake District. It is a satellite of Seatallan standing above the northern shore of Wastwater. Middle Fell can be climbed from Greendale near the foot of Wastwater, and a fine view of the lake backed b ...

* Yewbarrow * Red Pike *

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 alon ...

Pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

* Kirk Fell *

''Sty Head Pass'' * Great End *

Lingmell Lingmell is a fell in the English Lake District, standing above the village of Wasdale Head. It is an outlier on the north-west flank of Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain. Topography Although standing in the shadow of its taller parent ...

Scafell Scafell ( or ; also spelled Sca Fell, previously Scawfell) is a mountain in the English Lake District, part of the Southern Fells. Its height of makes it the second-highest mountain in England after its neighbour Scafell Pike, from which ...

* Illgill Head * Whin Rigg ** Irton Pike

Etymology

The name came from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''Vatnsdalr'' = "valley of the water". The alternative spelling "Wastdale" existed through much of the nineteenth century.

Gallery

File:Wasdale from Wastwater 1.JPG, Wasdale from Wastwater File:Wasdale from Wastwater 1.JPG, Wasdale from the shores of Wastwater. Yewbarrow is on the left,

in the centre and the

range on the right. File:Westmorland cairn Great Gable.jpg, The view from the cairn put up by the Westmorland Brothers to the SW of the summit of Great Gable - "The finest view in the district". File:Wast Water in the evening.jpg, Wastwater in the evening File:Scafell massif enclosures.jpg, Scafell massif from Middle Fell File:Illgill head from middle fell.jpg, Illgill Head from Middle Fell File:Wastwater, Yewbarrow and Great Gable - geograph.org.uk - 1546772.jpg, View from Wastwater

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Eskdale and Wasdale
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Cumbria County History Trust: Nether Wasdale
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Wasdale website

Valleys of Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria Borough of Copeland {{Cumbria-geo-stub