Sallows 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 moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of Man, pa ...
in the
English Lake District, rising between the valleys of Kentmere and Troutbeck. It is the highest point in the upland area to the south of
Garburn Pass, variously termed Kentmere Park and Applethwaite Common on
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...
maps.
Topography
Sallows and its sister fell
Sour Howes
Sour Howes is a small fell in the English Lake District. It is situated five kilometres east of Ambleside, between the Troutbeck and Kentmere valleys and is one of the two separate fells on Applethwaite Common (the other being Sallows).
Topo ...
together form a horse-shoe shaped mass, with the opening to the south east. This is the catchment of Park Beck, a tributary of the River Kent. Sallows lies to the north of the beck and connects around the head of the little valley via the ridge of Moor Head. The southern flank of Sallows, above Park Beck, is smooth and grassy, other than for the remains of a quarry. The access track to these workings is still in existence, providing the easiest access from the east.
The eastern end of Sallows falls in long easy slopes for half a mile toward the Kent valley, although there are a couple of low crags, particularly on Scour Rigg. The high ground then turns southerly at the subsidiary top at Mould Rigg (), finally petering out at the confluence of Park Beck and the Kent. The slopes above the Kent are steep and predominantly covered in broadleaved plantations.
Below these trees the river broadens into the oddly shaped Kentmere
Tarn. A natural waterbody was drained in the 1830s to extend the available farmland, but the scheme failed and merely resulted in an area of marsh. It was later found that the tarnbed was rich in
diatomite, a mineral used to produce thermal insulation. Extraction began in the 1930s and continued until 1971, producing the lines of the present man-made tarn.
To the north of Sallows is Garburn Pass (
Restricted Byway), the original route for pedestrian and horse-borne trade between Troutbeck and Kentmere. Whilst designated as a bridleway between 2006 and 2009, the road had seen considerable use from off-road vehicles, an activity causing controversy between drivers and walkers such that it was converted into a restricted byway. From the pass summit at Garburn Nook (), the land rises northwards up a broad ridge to
Yoke
A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, u ...
and
Ill Bell.
Summit
The summit of Sallows is covered in grass and heather, the highest point occupied by a curving ridge of shale about thirty feet long. This in turn carries a small
cairn. There is a good view westwards to the
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 ...
and
Coniston Old Man groups, with distant sightings from Black Combe to the Pennines.
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
''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...
'', Book 2:
Ascents
In addition to climbs from Kentmere or Ings via the quarry track, Sallows is easily reached from the summit of Garburn Pass. A narrow path also leads around Moor Head to Sour Howes, allowing a circuit of Park Beck to be made.
References
{{Far Eastern Fells
Fells of the Lake District
Kentmere