Caw Fell
Encyclopedia
Caw Fell is a fell
in the English
Lake District
, standing between Haycock the Lank Rigg
group. It occupies a wide upland area with Ennerdale
to the north and Blengdale to the south. Caw Fell is distant from any point of access by Lakeland standards, but can be climbed from Blengdale or Bowness Knott car-parks.
occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale
to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable
and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale
, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Caw Fell stands on the southern arm.
The main watershed runs broadly westwards from Great Gable, dividing the headwaters of Ennerdale and Wasdale
. The main fells in this section are Kirk Fell
, Pillar
, Scoat Fell
, Haycock and Caw Fell. The surrounding valleys gradually diverge until at Caw Fell they are 6 miles apart and other rivers spring up to drain the intervening country. The Bleng rises to the south of Caw Fell, while Worm Gill drains the western slopes. The fell is therefore the end of the westerly run of the ridge, and the watershed curves north around the head of Worm Gill, crossing the subsidiary top of Iron Crag on the transit to Crag Fell
and Lank Rigg
.
The unnamed col
connecting Caw Fell to Haycock is flat topped and carries the Ennerdale Fence, in this section a substantial dry stone wall. Tongue Gill, the principal headwater of the Bleng, flows from the southern side of the saddle while on the opposite side is the steep headwall of Silver Cove, a deeply enclosed side-valley running into Ennerdale. The heathery spur of Tongue End runs parallel to the east.
West of the summit a broad ridge descends steeply to Worm Gill, a craggy bowl scooped out on the northern side above the tributary of Bleaberry Gill. Running due north between this corrie and Silver Cove is the ridge of Iron Crag
, making the whole summit area resemble an inverted 'T' in plan. A narrow and steep sided col at 1,575 ft provides Iron Crag with considerably more prominence than its parent, a small tarn
lying on the northern slope. The rock face giving Iron Crag its name overlooks Silver Cove, but is not particularly prominent. From this top the ridge swings west again, the rough northern flanks running above the shore of Ennerdale Water
. The main features here are Mart Knott, Stair Knott and Boat How. The ridge now meets the headwaters of the River Calder and divides to embrace the valley, Crag Fell to the north and Lank Rigg to the south.
Caw Fell also has a lower level south west ridge, running down between the River Bleng and Worm Gill. This descends first to Stockdale Moor, a site littered with tumuli, hut circles, enclosures and other remnents of ancient habitation.. Beyond are the low hills centred on Ponsonby Fell (1,033 ft), not included by Alfred Wainwright
in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
, but covered by other guidebooks.
-phyric andesite
lava
s of the Birker Fell Formation beneath. The rest of the fell exhibits rock of the Ennerdale Intrusion, granophyric granite
.
Iron Crag Mine operated below the crag of that name from around 1864 to 1896. 500 tons of haematite ore was raised in 1881, but the mine never proved a commercial success. Other smaller operations ran briefly in Silver Cove and Deep Gill.
. Caw Fell is remote from higher fells and gives an all round panorama of the Western Fells
and the Scafells
. It is necessary to cross the wall to take in the full view.
and Crag Fell from the Kinniside Stone Circle.
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
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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...
, standing between Haycock the Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the south of Ennerdale in the Western Fells. A sprawling hill with gentle grassy slopes it can be climbed from various points on the Coldfell road...
group. It occupies a wide upland area with Ennerdale
Ennerdale
Ennerdale may refer to:* Ennerdale, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa* Ennerdale Water, a lake in the Lake District in England**Ennerdale Bridge, a nearby settlement...
to the north and Blengdale to the south. Caw Fell is distant from any point of access by Lakeland standards, but can be climbed from Blengdale or Bowness Knott car-parks.
Topography
The Western FellsWestern Fells
The Western Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Great Gable they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale...
occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale
Wasdale
Wasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt 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...
to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable
Great Gable
Great Gable is a mountain lying at the very heart of the English Lake District, appearing as a pyramid from Wasdale , but as a dome from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are many different routes to the summit...
and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale
Ennerdale
Ennerdale may refer to:* Ennerdale, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa* Ennerdale Water, a lake in the Lake District in England**Ennerdale Bridge, a nearby settlement...
, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Caw Fell stands on the southern arm.
The main watershed runs broadly westwards from Great Gable, dividing the headwaters of Ennerdale and Wasdale
Wasdale
Wasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt 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 main fells in this section are Kirk Fell
Kirk Fell
Kirk Fell is a fell in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is situated between Great Gable and Pillar on the long ring of fells surrounding the valley of Ennerdale, and also stands over Wasdale to the south...
, Pillar
Pillar (Lake District)
Pillar is a mountain in the western part of the English Lake District. Situated between the valleys of Ennerdale to the north and Wasdale to the south, it is the highest point of the Pillar group . At 892 metres it is the eighth highest mountain in the Lake District...
, Scoat Fell
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...
, Haycock and Caw Fell. The surrounding valleys gradually diverge until at Caw Fell they are 6 miles apart and other rivers spring up to drain the intervening country. The Bleng rises to the south of Caw Fell, while Worm Gill drains the western slopes. The fell is therefore the end of the westerly run of the ridge, and the watershed curves north around the head of Worm Gill, crossing the subsidiary top of Iron Crag on the transit to Crag Fell
Crag Fell
Crag Fell is a hill in the English Lake District. It is part of the Lank Rigg group, standing above Ennerdale Water in the Western Fells. The craggy northern face above the lake gives the fell its name, prominent in views from the car park at Bowness Knott...
and Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg
Lank Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the south of Ennerdale in the Western Fells. A sprawling hill with gentle grassy slopes it can be climbed from various points on the Coldfell road...
.
The unnamed col
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
connecting Caw Fell to Haycock is flat topped and carries the Ennerdale Fence, in this section a substantial dry stone wall. Tongue Gill, the principal headwater of the Bleng, flows from the southern side of the saddle while on the opposite side is the steep headwall of Silver Cove, a deeply enclosed side-valley running into Ennerdale. The heathery spur of Tongue End runs parallel to the east.
West of the summit a broad ridge descends steeply to Worm Gill, a craggy bowl scooped out on the northern side above the tributary of Bleaberry Gill. Running due north between this corrie and Silver Cove is the ridge of Iron Crag
Iron Crag
Iron Crag is a mountain in the English Lake District, standing between Crag Fell and Caw Fell. The name of the fell is the source of some confusion, as the summit is unnamed on Ordnance Survey maps. Iron Crag apparently refers to the rocky outcrop below the summit, while the lower slopes are...
, making the whole summit area resemble an inverted 'T' in plan. A narrow and steep sided col at 1,575 ft provides Iron Crag with considerably more prominence than its parent, a small tarn
Tarn (lake)
A tarn is a mountain lake or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. A corrie may be called a cirque.The word is derived from the Old Norse word tjörn meaning pond...
lying on the northern slope. The rock face giving Iron Crag its name overlooks Silver Cove, but is not particularly prominent. From this top the ridge swings west again, the rough northern flanks running above the shore of Ennerdale Water
Ennerdale Water
Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 45 metres , and at 700 to 1,500 metres wide and 3.9 kilometres is one of the smallest lakes in the area...
. The main features here are Mart Knott, Stair Knott and Boat How. The ridge now meets the headwaters of the River Calder and divides to embrace the valley, Crag Fell to the north and Lank Rigg to the south.
Caw Fell also has a lower level south west ridge, running down between the River Bleng and Worm Gill. This descends first to Stockdale Moor, a site littered with tumuli, hut circles, enclosures and other remnents of ancient habitation.. Beyond are the low hills centred on Ponsonby Fell (1,033 ft), not included 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...
in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells
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 of the Lake District in northwest England...
, but covered by other guidebooks.
Geology and mining
The north eastern flanks are overlain by drift deposits with the plagioclasePlagioclase
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,...
lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
s of the Birker Fell Formation beneath. The rest of the fell exhibits rock of the Ennerdale Intrusion, granophyric granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
.
Iron Crag Mine operated below the crag of that name from around 1864 to 1896. 500 tons of haematite ore was raised in 1881, but the mine never proved a commercial success. Other smaller operations ran briefly in Silver Cove and Deep Gill.
Summit and view
The top stands to the north of the wall, marked by a cairnCairn
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...
. Caw Fell is remote from higher fells and gives an all round panorama of the Western Fells
Western Fells
The Western Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Great Gable they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale...
and the Scafells
Scafells
Image:Annotated Scafell range.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Scafell range as seen looking west from Crinkle Crags. rect 23 372 252 419 Slight Side rect 173 794 560 834 Scafell East Buttress...
. It is necessary to cross the wall to take in the full view.
Ascents
The south west ridge over Stockdale Moor can be followed from the car park at Bleng Bridge, this being over five miles each way. From Bowness Knott in Ennerdale, Caw Fell can be reached in a similar distance via the Tongue End spur. Indirect ascents can be made via GrikeGrike (Lake District)
Grike is a hill in the west of the English Lake District, near Ennerdale Water. It is part of the Lank Rigg group, the most westerly Wainwright as the fells diminish toward the coastal plain...
and Crag Fell from the Kinniside Stone Circle.