Glenridding Dodd | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 442 m (1,450 ft) |
Prominence | 45 m (148 ft) |
Parent peak | Sheffield Pike |
Listing | Wainwright |
Coordinates | 54°32′56″N2°57′30″W / 54.54895°N 2.95846°W |
Geography | |
Location | Cumbria, England |
Parent range | Lake District, Eastern Fells |
OS grid | NY381175 |
Topo map | OS Explorer OL5 |
Glenridding Dodd (the rounded hill above Glenridding) is a small fell in the English Lake District, at the end of a ridge descending from the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It stands above the village of Glenridding and on the western shore of Ullswater. Although small and not of great elevation, its top is a fine viewpoint for Ullswater and for the fells clustered round the valleys above Patterdale.
Glenridding Dodd is the final subsidiary top on the east ridge of Stybarrow Dodd. It takes the form of a short east-west ridge above the village of Glenridding. To the east the ridge falls steeply and terminates in the precipitous rock face of Stybarrow Crag beside the A592 road on the shore of Ullswater. To the west a col separates it from the south-east ridge of Sheffield Pike. To the north it is bounded by Mossdale Beck, and to the south by the village of Glenridding, and Glenridding Beck. [1] The lower slopes on the south and east sides are wooded with deciduous trees (the Stybarrow Oaks), [2] [3] and on the north side larch trees reach almost to the summit
Glenridding Dodd is a small fell measuring only 1 km in length and less than that in width, and its highest point rises to only 442 m. Yet it is a fine viewpoint over Ullswater, nearly 300 m below.
The top of Glenridding Dodd is a short ridge, with patches of heather, rocky knolls and marshy hollows. [2] The highest point, at the western end, is marked by a small cairn, but better views of Glenridding and almost the whole of Ullswater may be had from the eastern end of the ridge where the ground falls steeply away, [2] just above the 400 m contour. For a low fell the view is "delightful." [4] Beyond Glenridding are the claw-shaped end of Birkhouse Moor, and Keldas, its subsidiary top closer to the lake. Further south, the fells clustered around the valleys above Patterdale are seen. [2]
A stone boundary marker, just west of the summit, is inscribed with the letters M (on the side facing Glenridding) and H (on the side facing Glencoyne). This marked the boundary between the lands of the Marshall family of Patterdale and the Howard family of Greystoke. [5]
Much of the land above the village of Glenridding, including the Stybarrow Oaks, is privately owned, but above the wall the fell is Open Access land. [1]
Ascents can begin from Glenridding, with its large pay-and-display car park, up the path known as The Rake, or from the lay-by on the A592 road immediately north of Stybarrow Crag, beside Mossdale Beck. Both paths meet at the wall across the col to the west of the summit. A short climb from here leads to the summit. [2]
Alfred Wainwright noted that it had once been a much more popular ascent for the sake of its views, but that old paths had become overgrown and neglected in his day. [4]
The rocks of Glenridding Dodd are all part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, formed on the margin of an ancient continent during a period of intense volcanic activity, roughly 450 million years ago in the Ordovician Period. [6]
All the rocks on the fell belong to the Birker Fell Andesite Formation. [7] This was formed predominantly by eruptions of mobile andesitic lava from shallow-sided volcanoes. These rocks are part of a thick succession of lava sheets found around the western and northern sides of the Lake District. [8] [9]
Among these andesitic lavas were some small quantities of dacitic lavas, formed when more viscous (more silica-rich) magma was erupted. [8] Such dacitic rock is found on the lower parts of the southern and eastern slopes of the fell (but not including Stybarrow Crag). [7]
The name Glenridding Dodd is recorded from 1823 onwards. [10] Glenridding is probably 'the valley full of bracken', [11] from Cumbric glinn (or possibly Irish Gaelic gleann), 'glen, valley' and the Cumbric equivalent of the Welsh rhedyn, 'fern, bracken.' [12] Dod or dodd is a dialect word of unknown origin, but common in hill names in the Lake District and the Scottish Borders for bare rounded summits, either free standing or subsidiary shoulders to higher neighbours. [12] : 396 [13]
Mossdale is 'boggy valley' from the dialect word moss (from Old Norse mosi or Old English mos), 'bog', and the dialect word dale (from Old Norse dalr), 'valley.' [12] : 412, 395
The Rake is 'the track' from the dialect word rake, 'track.' This is used elsewhere in the Lake District for a narrow path on a hill. [12] : 415
Bleas Crag may be 'the dark crag' from the dialect work blea (from Old Norse blár), 'dark,' [12] : 390 plus crag.
Helvellyn is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ullswater.
Great Dodd is a mountain or fell in the English Lake District. It stands on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range, a line of mountains which runs in a north–south direction between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ullswater in the east of the Lake District. Great Dodd, with a height of 857 metres (2,812 ft) is the highest of the fells in this range to the north of Sticks Pass.
Place Fell is a hill in the English Lake District. It stands at the corner of the upper and middle reaches of Ullswater, with steep western flanks overlooking the villages of Glenridding and Patterdale.
Nethermost Pike is a fell in Cumbria, England, and a part of the Lake District. At 891 metres (2,923 ft) it is the second highest Wainwright in the Helvellyn range, the highest of which is Helvellyn itself. It is located close to the southern end of the ridge, with Helvellyn to the north, and High Crag and Dollywaggon Pike to the south. Nethermost Pike, along with many of the Eastern Fells, lies between Thirlmere in the west and the Ullswater catchment in the east. The closest villages are Glenridding and Patterdale on the shores of Ullswater, over 8 kilometres (5 mi) away.
Raise is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands on the main spine of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, between Thirlmere and Ullswater.
Stybarrow Dodd is a mountain or fell in the English Lake District. It stands immediately north of Sticks Pass on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, which is situated between the lakes of Thirlmere and the Ullswater.
Clough Head is a fell, or hill, in the English Lake District. It marks the northern end of the main ridge of the Helvellyn range and is often walked as part of the ridge walk. The fell stands south of the village of Threlkeld and the A66 road, and it forms the steep eastern side of the tranquil valley of St John's in the Vale.
Red Screes is a fell in the English Lake District, situated between the villages of Patterdale and Ambleside. It may be considered an outlier of the Fairfield group in the Eastern Fells, but is separated from its neighbours by low cols. This gives Red Screes an independence which is reflected in its prominence.
Great Mell Fell is an isolated hill or fell in the English Lake District, north of Ullswater and adjacent to the Eastern Fells. It rises from a level plain to a height of 537 m. Its top is an excellent viewpoint for many of the surrounding higher fells. The fell is now owned and managed by the National Trust and offers a place of quiet refuge.
Patterdale is a small village and civil parish in the eastern part of the English Lake District in Cumbria, in the traditional county of Westmorland, and the long valley in which they are found, also called the Ullswater Valley. The parish had a population of 460 in 2001, increasing to 501 at the 2011 Census.
Gowbarrow Fell is a low fell in the English Lake District. It is an outlier of the Eastern Fells, standing to the north of Ullswater, bounded on one side by Aira Beck with its waterfall Aira Force. The waterfall is a popular attraction for visitors to the area.
Glenridding is a village at the southern end of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. The village is popular with mountain walkers who can scale England's third-highest mountain, Helvellyn, and many other challenging peaks from there.
Seat Sandal is a fell in the English Lake District, situated four kilometres north of the village of Grasmere from where it is very well seen. Nevertheless, it tends to be overshadowed by its more illustrious neighbours in the Eastern Fells, Helvellyn and Fairfield.
Watson's Dodd is a fell in the English Lake District, a minor rise on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, but a prominent shoulder on the west side of that range.
Hart Side is a subsidiary top on one of the east ridges of Stybarrow Dodd, which is a mountain in the English Lake District, west of Ullswater on the main Helvellyn ridge in the Eastern Fells. With a height of 2,480 feet (760 m) Hart Side rises above the col separating it from Green Side by 75 feet (23 m).
Birkhouse Moor is a fell in the English Lake District, an outlier of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells. It is properly an eastern ridge of Helvellyn, but was treated as a separate fell by Alfred Wainwright in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. That convention is followed here.
Sheffield Pike is a fell in the English Lake District, a prominent intermediate top on one of the eastern ridges of Stybarrow Dodd. It separates and stands high above the Glencoyne and Glenridding valleys, on the eastern side of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells and it looks down onto Ullswater.
The Eastern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Centred on Helvellyn they primarily comprise a north–south ridge running between Ullswater and Lakeland's Central Valley.
The Far Eastern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. 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 walking as the fells merge mainly into the surrounding moorlands.
High Crag is a minor fell on the Helvellyn Range in the eastern region of the English Lake District. It sits on the ridge to the south of Helvellyn and Nethermost Pike. It rises sharply above the head of Ruthwaite Cove, and has attracted the attention of rock climbers. Its rock type is a lapilli-tuff of the Helvellyn Tuff Formation.