Armboth Fell is a fell

Fell

“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...

 in the English Lake District

Lake District

The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

, believed by Alfred Wainwright

Alfred Wainwright

Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...

 to lie in the very centre of Lakeland. The fell

Fell

“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...

 is a domed plateau, three-quarters of a mile across, jutting out to the east of the Derwentwater-Thirlmere

Thirlmere

Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. It runs roughly south to north, with a dam at the northern end, and is bordered on the eastern side by the A591 road and on the western side by a minor road....

 watershed. The fell is wet underfoot, with large areas clad in heather. The eastern slopes above Thirlmere have been planted with conifers.

Topography

Armboth Fell joins the main ridge via a shallow depression, a little to the south of High Tove

High Tove

High Tove is a fell in the English Lake District, close to the geographical centre of the Cumbrian hills. It forms part of the watershed between the Derwentwater and Thirlmere catchments, a ridge running broadly north-south.-Topography:...

, and due east of Middle Crag. This boggy low point is the source of both Fisher Gill and Launchy Gill, which form the fell's northern and southern boundaries respectively. Fisher Gill takes the shorter course, flowing straight for the shore of the reservoir through a break in the conifers below Cockrigg Crag. It enters the lake near the Armboth public car park. Launchy Gill flows across the plateau vis Launchy Tarn. This is prominent on OS

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 maps, but on the ground is a 20 ft (6.1 m) wide pool. Very shallow, it lies on a gently sloping band of rock. Launchy Gill then drops through the forest over a series of waterfalls. A marked nature tail, popular with children, follows the lower part of the gill through the trees.

Prominent on the eastern flank of the fell is Fisher Crag (1,386 ft), a striking rock face set all about by trees and midway between the two gills. Reminiscent of Raven Crag

Raven Crag

Raven Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. It acts as a superb vantage point for, and backdrop to, views across Thirlmere reservoir.-Topography:...

 to the north, this is a fine viewpoint for Thirlmere and the Eastern Fells, although public right of way is uncertain.

Armboth

The fell is named for the settlement of Armboth which stood on the shore of Thirlmere near the mouth of Fisher Gill. When the level of the lake was raised to create the reservoir in the 1880s, the village was abandoned and submerged. The only remaining structure is the summerhouse of Armboth Hall which lies amid the trees, although a number of ruins, enclosures and tracks can still be found within the forest. There is now no habitation on the western shore of the lake, although 'Armboth' still appears on some signposts.

Geology

The Birker Fell Formation (plagioclase

Plagioclase

Plagioclase is an important series of tectosilicate minerals within the feldspar family. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a solid solution series, more properly known as the plagioclase feldspar series...

-phyric andesite

Andesite

Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...

 lavas) predominates, overlain by till

Till

thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....

. To the east of the summit are outcrops of garnet

Garnet

The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...

 bearing porphyritic

Porphyritic

Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology, specifically for igneous rocks, for a rock that has a distinct difference in the size of the crystals, with at least one group of crystals obviously larger than another group...

 andesite.

Summit and view

A small rock outcrop forms the summit, complete with a cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

. A further knoll to the north east is of similar altitude. Much of the fell, particularly towards the main watershed, is abominably wet underfoot and the heather makes progress even more laborious. There are views east to the Helvellyn

Helvellyn

Helvellyn is a mountain in the English Lake District, the apex of the Eastern Fells. At above sea level, it is the third highest peak in both the Lake District and England...

 range and westward over the main ridge to the higher fells where a great sweep from Grisedale Pike

Grisedale Pike

Grisedale Pike is a fell in the Lake District, Cumbria, England situated west of the town of Keswick in the north-western sector of the national park. At a height of 791 m it is the 40th highest Wainwright in the Lake District; it also qualifies as a Hewitt, Marilyn and Nuttall...

 to Bowfell

Bowfell

Bowfell is a pyramid-shaped mountain lying at the heart of the English Lake District, in the Southern Fells area. It is the sixth highest mountain in the lakes and one of the most popular of the Lake District fells...

 can be seen. Fisher Crag presents a better viewpoint for Thirlmere.

Ascents

To quote Wainwright "walkers of a contrary turn of mind will summarily reject the advice to leave Armboth Fell well alone, and may indeed be strengthened in their determination to climb it."

From the public car park at Armboth a track can be followed up the south bank of Fisher Gill. This leads into the trees, emerging behind Fisher Crag. From here on there is no path.

Launchy Gill does not provide access to the open fell, the forest fence being a substantial barrier, but from further south at the Dob Gill car park the bridleway to Watendlath can be used to gain the main ridge between Ullscarf

Ullscarf

Ullscarf is a fell in the English Lake District close to the geographical centre of the Cumbrian hills. It forms part of the watershed between the Derwentwater and Thirlmere catchments, a ridge running broadly north-south.-Topography:...

and High Tove, before striking north to the summit. If making for Armboth Fell from the west, webbed feet may be found useful after rain.