Tarn Crag 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 Central Fells

Central Fells

The Central Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Reaching their highest point at High Raise , they occupy a broad area to the east of Borrowdale. Perhaps unexpectedly the Central Fells are generally lower than the surrounding hills, the Lake District's general dome-like...

 of 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...

. Another Tarn Crag

Tarn Crag (Far Eastern Fells)

Tarn Crag is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the east of Longsleddale in the Far Eastern Fells. There is another Tarn Crag in the Central Fells near Grasmere.-Topography:...

 is situated in the Far Eastern Fells

Far Eastern Fells

The Far Eastern Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Reaching their highest point at High Street they occupy a broad area to the east of Ullswater and Kirkstone Pass. Much quieter than the central areas of Lakeland they offer in general easier but less exciting walking as the...

. Strictly the name applies only to the rock face looking down upon Easedale Tarn, but 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...

 applied it to the entire ridge lying between the Easedale and Far Easedale valleys in his 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...

Topography

The spine of the Central Fells runs north from High Raise

High Raise (Langdale)

High Raise is a fell in the Central Fells of the English Lake District not to be confused with another High Raise situated in the Far Eastern Fells...

, forming the watershed between 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....

 and Borrowdale

Borrowdale

Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England.Borrowdale lies within the historic county boundaries of Cumberland, and is sometimes referred to as Cumberland Borrowdale in order to distinguish it from another Borrowdale in the...

. A number of lesser ridges radiate out eastwards from High Raise, centred upon the subsidiary top of Sergeant Man

Sergeant Man

Sergeant Man is a fell in the English Lake District. It is properly a secondary summit of High Raise, but is given a separate chapter by Alfred Wainwright in his third Pictorial Guide nonetheless, as it "is so prominent an object and offers so compelling a challenge"...

. One of these runs between the valleys of Far Easedale and Easedale, terminating at their confluence above Grasmere

Grasmere

Grasmere is a village, and popular tourist destination, in the centre of the English Lake District. It takes its name from the adjacent lake, and is associated with the Lake Poets...

 village.

The ridge is narrow to the east of the summit, rising over a series of knolls between the gradually diverging valleys. Westward it broadens considerably, swinging southward around the head of Codale Tarn before becoming indistinct in the general rising ground towards Sergeant Man and the High Raise massif. Codale Tarn is a shallow pool, its original outlet blocked by a moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

 so that it now overflows via a rock lip.

The southern flank of the fell comprises Tarn and Greathead Crags, the backdrop to the popular picnic spot of Easedale Tarn. Much larger than Codale, this 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...

 is around 70 ft deep and contains perch

Perch

Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke meaning spotted, and the...

, eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 and trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

. Across the tarn are the crags of Blea Rigg

Blea Rigg

Blea Rigg is a fell in the English Lake District, lying between the valleys of Easedale and Great Langdale. One of the Central Fells, it is a broad plateau with a succession of rocky tops...

. On the northern side of the ridge Deer Bields Crag broods over Far Easedale, with Calf Crag

Calf Crag

Calf Crag is a fell in the English Lake District, on the eastern side of the High Raise massif.-Topography:The spine of the Central Fells runs on a north-south axis with the highpoint at High Raise...

 beyond.

Geology

The summit area is composed of the dacitic welded lapilli

Lapilli

Lapilli is a size classification term for tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. Lapilli means "little stones" in Latin. They are in some senses similar to ooids or pisoids in calcareous sediments.By definition lapilli range...

-tuff

Tuff

Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...

 and volcaniclastic sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 of the Lincomb Tarns Formation. The southern crags reveal 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,...

 sills and the pebbly sandstone and breccia

Breccia

Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....

 of the Pavey Ark Member.

Summit and view

The highest point is a peaked outcrop, topped by a small 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...

. The views eastward are extensive and Easedale Tarn can be brought into view from a subsidiary top to the south.

Ascents

Tarn Crag is generally climbed from Grasmere via its eastern ridge, where a path winds among the rocks. This can be reached from Easedale Tarn, the top of the Sour Milk Gill cascades, or from Stythwaite Steps in Far Easedale. Ascents from the base of Deer Bield Crag or via Codale Tarn are also possible, although pathless.