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Knott is a mountain in the northern part of 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 the highest point of the ''Back o'Skiddaw'' region, an area of wild and unfrequented
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
to the north of
Skiddaw Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is the sixth-highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the ...
and Blencathra. Other tops in this region include
High Pike High Pike is a fell in the northern part of the English Lake District, it is located 4.5 kilometres south of Caldbeck. It has a height of 658 metres (2159 feet) and is the most northerly of the Lakeland fells over 2000 feet. It is a ...
,
Carrock Fell Carrock Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, situated in the northern region of the national park, 8 miles (13 kilometres) north-east of Keswick. Etymology The name ''Carrock'' is a Brittonic formation. Sometimes stated as deriving ...
and Great Calva. The fell's slopes are mostly smooth, gentle, and covered in grass, with a few deep ravines. It stands a long way from a road and requires a long walk across the moor top get to it; this, as well as the fact that it is hidden from the rest of the Lake District by the two aforementioned giants, make it one of the most unfrequented tops in the Lakes. When it is climbed it is most often from Mungrisdale or from the north via
Great Sca Fell Great Sca Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, seven kilometres (4½ miles) southwest of the village of Caldbeck. It is the highest of the four Uldale Fells, the other three being Longlands Fell, Meal Fell and Great Cockup. It is a Wain ...
. The word ''Knott'' is of Cumbric origin, and means simply "hill".


Topography

Skiddaw and Blencathra are the best known of the Northern Fells, fronting the range as they loom above Keswick and the road to Penrith. Behind this wall is a further group of fells, commonly referred to as Back o' Skiddaw. Wainwright, Alfred: '' A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells,Book 5 The Northern Fells'': Birkett, Bill: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994): Knott stands at the centre of this group, in addition to being the highest point. The Back o'Skiddaw group is separated from Blencathra and the Skiddaw massif by Skiddaw Forest. It is not a woodland area — other than the windbreak of Skiddaw House — but is a former royal forest (an area once set aside for hunting) and is today a marshy upland area at around 1,300 ft surrounded on all sides by higher fells. Three major streams flow from Skiddaw Forest, dividing the Northern Fells into three sectors. Dash Beck runs north-west, the River Caldew north-east and the River Glenderaterra south, between Skiddaw and Blencathra. Knott itself is a long whale-backed ridge running for three miles in an east–west direction. With the exception of the extreme east and west, the fell has broad and gentle contours clad primarily in grass. Many of the streams draining it have cut deeply into Knott's flanks, exposing yellow and red soils which are visible in distant views. The western end of the fell is Burn Tod, which descends roughly between Burntod and Hause Gills, both tributaries of Dash Beck. To the north is a parallel but shorter shoulder, Frozen Fell, and these two spurs are the only part of the fell which drain westward to the River Derwent. From the south of the summit a ridge descends across a narrow col to the neighbouring fell of Great Calva. A further spur on this flank, across to the east, is named Snab. Wiley Gill and Burdell Gill fall on this side to the River Caldew and, ultimately, the Eden at Carlisle. The eastern terminus of the summit ridge is Coomb Height. At the base of the slope, amid rough ground, are the remains of Carrock Fell Mine. Coombe Height is bordered by Wet Swine Gill and Grainsgill Beck, further tributaries of the Caldew. Two connecting ridges run north from Knott, separated by the deep ravines of Roughton Gill. The western arms drops across an area of bog and with little reascent arrives at the summit of Great Sca Fell. The eastern branch crosses Miller Moss and then runs at high level for two miles to High Pike, first passing the subsidiary tops of Great Lingy Hill and Harestones.


Miller Moss

In August 2018 it was reported that Miller Moss, also known as Little Lingy Hill, had been re-surveyed and measured as with a prominence of , enabling it to be classed as a mountain and included in the list of
Nuttall Nuttall may refer to: People * Nuttall (name) * Nuttall baronets Nature * Nuttall's oak, a fast-growing large deciduous oak tree native to North America * Nuttall's woodpecker, a species of woodpecker found in oak woodlands of California * Nutta ...
s.


Summit

Wainwright noted of the summit that ''"If the party consists of more than one person and if, further, a bat, ball and wickets can be found in the depths of somebody's rucksack, a cricket match can be played on turf many a county ground might covet."'' Amidst the grass a
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 ...
has been built. Further such markers adorn the tops of Coomb Height, Burn Tod and Snab, but the ridge top is otherwise featureless and the paths faint and intermittent. The view southward is constrained by Blencathra and Skiddaw, neither displaying their best side, but between the two is a narrow slice of central Lakeland. This includes a section of distant Thirlmere along with the
Scafells Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg, 300px, The Scafell range as seen looking west from Crinkle Crags. (Interactive labels.) rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side (762m) rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress rect 707 787 893 861 Esk Crag or But ...
. To the north are the Solway Firth and the hills of south west Scotland, but there is little interest to the foreground.
Computer-generated summit panorama


Mining

Although the main part of Carrock Fell Mine is beneath Carrock Fell, there are some workings to the south of Grainsgill Beck at the base of Coomb Height. A trench runs northward down the slope to the beck, containing a number of shafts and levels. These surface workings follow the line of the Harding vein, the most productive part of the mine. Carrock Fell Mine was the only British tungsten mine outside Cornwall and was operated at various times between 1850 and 1982 when the price of tungsten was sufficient. Although reserves of wolframite and other tungsten ores are believed to remain, the Harding vein beneath Knott has long been worked out and the levels were used for dumping sludge from ore processing operations.Adams, John: ''Mines of the Lake District Fells'': Dalesman (1995) A small operation on the southern flank of Knott was Little Wiley Gill Mine. A 40-yard level was driven here, but no other information survives.


Ascents

From Orthwaite to the north-west a track can be followed to the source of Hause Gill and the col between Knott and Great Calva. Alternatively a start can be made at Longlands, crossing the intervening ridge between
Meal Fell Meal Fell is a small fell in the northern region of the English Lake District, it is situated seven kilometres (4½ miles) south-west of the village of Caldbeck and is one of the four main Uldale Fells (the others being Longlands Fell, Great Coc ...
and Great Cockup and then following a path up between Burn Tod and Frozen Fell. Fell Side provides access from the north, along the old mine track beside Roughten Gill. Once the mine is reached a pathless climb can be made to the summit. The access road to Carrock Fell Mine can be used to lead onto Coomb Height for an ascent from Mosedale. Wainwright gave dire warnings regarding the mine workings on this route.


References

* Complete Lakeland Fells, Bill Birkett,


See also

* Knott family of lighthouse keepers {{Marilyns N Eng Fells of the Lake District Hewitts of England Marilyns of England Nuttalls Caldbeck