The Duddon Valley is a valley in the southern
Lake District National Park
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England. The
River Duddon flows through the valley, rising in the mountains between
Eskdale and
Langdale, before flowing into the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
near
Broughton in Furness. In its lower reaches it is bounded by the
Furness Fells and
Harter Fell.
The part of the valley near the village of
Ulpha is marked as "Dunnerdale" on
Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
maps, and upstream towards the village of
Seathwaite is Hall Dunnerdale. The name "Dunnerdale" is often used as a synonym for "Duddon Valley", but people, including
Alfred Wainwright, prefer the name "Duddon Valley". He wrote in
''The Southern Fells'', "I ought to mention that I am aware that the Duddon Valley is also properly known as Dunnerdale, a name I haven't used in the book, preferring the former; just as I never refer to
Blencathra by its better-known modern name of Saddleback. It's a matter of personal choice.".
The "Dunnerdale Fells" are between Broughton Mills and the main Duddon Valley. The
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of "Dunnerdale with Seathwaite" includes the valley of Dunnerdale Beck as well as the main length of the
River Duddon. Advertisements for holiday cottages at Hall Dunnerdale describe the cottages as being "in the Duddon Valley".
From the top of the valley, steep motor roads lead west over the
Hardknott Pass to
Eskdale and east over the
Wrynose Pass to the Langdale valleys. A less steep pass to Eskdale over
Birker Fell leaves the valley at Ulpha, with extensive views of the
Scafell range.
References
External links
Official Millom and Area Website
Valleys of Cumbria
Furness
Cumberland (unitary authority)
Westmorland and Furness
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