Wetherlam | |
---|---|
![]() Wetherlam on the left, seen from Lingmoor Fell | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 763 [1] m (2,503 ft) |
Prominence | c. 145 m (475 ft) |
Parent peak | Coniston Old Man |
Listing | Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall [1] |
Geography | |
![]() | |
Location | Cumbria, England |
Parent range | Lake District, Southern Fells |
OS grid | NY288011 |
Topo map | OS Landranger 89, 90, Explorer OL6 |
Name | Grid ref | Height | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Black Sails | NY282007 | 745 m (2,444 ft) | Hewitt, Nuttall |
Wetherlam (763 m) is a mountain in the English Lake District. It is the most northerly of the Coniston Fells, the range of fells to the north-west of Coniston village; its north-east slopes descend to Little Langdale.
Wetherlam stands apart from the main north–south spine of the Coniston Fells, the connection being via the long east ridge of Swirl How. Midway along this ridge is Black Sails, an intermediate top usually considered to be part of Wetherlam, [2] [3] and listed as a Hewitt in its own right.
From Swirl How the east ridge drops steeply down Prison Band to Swirl Hawse, before rising again to the summit of Black Sails. Black Sails has a descending southern spur which steps down over High and Low Wether Crags. Between this and the main Coniston range is the valley of Swirl Hawse Beck and Levers Water. This tarn has been raised by damming to a depth of 125 feet (40 m), originally to supply water to the Coniston Copper Mines. Following the decline of mining a water treatment plant was built, and since the 1970s the tarn has supplied drinking water for Coniston and other local villages as far east as Sawrey. [4]
The main ridge continues east from Black Sails across the depression of Red Dell Head to the summit of Wetherlam. A second southward spur, paralleling that from Black Sails, descends from the main summit. This is Lad Stones ridge and the valley contained between the two is Red Dell.
Wetherlam has a further ridge which descends steeply north eastward along Wetherlam Edge. This leads via Birk Fell to an attractive upland plateau between Tilberthwaite and Little Langdale. Many rocky knolls characterise the area, the most prominent being Blake Rigg and Great Intake. To the south east of Wetherlam is a further upland area, named Yewdale Fells on Ordnance Survey maps. This displays less bare rock, but is fringed by a wall of crag above the Coniston - Ambleside road.
To the north of Wetherlam is the Greenburn Valley, a feeder of Little Langdale. A steep sided, rather marshy valley, Greenburn's waters join the River Brathay at Little Langdale Tarn. Greenburn itself bears a tarn, or more correctly the remains of a reservoir. A natural waterbody was dammed in the early 18th century to provide water for the Greenburn Mine. The 250-yard-long (230 m) barrage has now been breached to leave a collection of pools and bogs. [4] Greenburn is bounded to the north by the curve of Wet Side Edge, falling from Great Carrs.
The summit is a gentle dome with a cairn marking the highest point. The vista is wide with the majority of the Southern, Central and Eastern Fells in view. Little Langdale is perhaps the finest aspect. [3]
In the past Wetherlam was extensively exploited for its mineral resources. The slopes on all sides are pitted with disused copper mines and slate quarries, making it the most industrialised of the Lake District fells. [3] The workings are on a small scale, however, and, according to Alfred Wainwright, unobtrusive: "this fine hill... is too vast and sturdy to be disfigured and weakened by man's feeble scratchings of its surface". [3]
The principal copper mining areas were to the south of Wetherlam, in what is now Coppermines Valley. Much of the activity took place on the slopes of Brim Fell to the south, but Red Dell and the ridges on either side hold many shafts, and there are workings below the bed of Levers Water. These mines were at their most productive in the 1850s, closing in 1915. Some prospecting was carried out in 1954, but the degree of collapse was too severe for reopening. Copper Pyrite was the main product, but iron, lead, nickel and cobalt were also won.
To the east of the fell was Tilberthwaite Mine, with many shafts around the gill and up the slopes of Birk Fell. This was also worked for copper, operations ceasing in 1942.
The mines in Greenburn served by the reservoir there were also known as New Coniston Mine. Copper was won from 1845 until the mine was substantially abandoned in 1865, the shafts reaching a depth of 700 feet (210 m) below ground. [5]
There are major slate quarries at Tilberthwaite and further workings on the Yewdale Fells and Lad Stones ridge.
There are three natural starting points for an ascent of Wetherlam: [3] the village of Coniston to the south, and the valleys of Tilberthwaite to the east and Little Langdale to the north-east.
From Coniston a path and an unsurfaced road lead into the Coppermines Valley, the site of a number of disused mines; this is also the start of a popular path up the Old Man of Coniston. There are two possible routes to Wetherlam's summit from the Coppermines: either up the south ridge, called Lad Stones, or up the Red Dell valley to the west of the ridge.
Walkers approaching from Little Langdale or Tilberthwaite can take any of a number of paths to Birk Fell Hawse, a small col to the north-east of the summit at the foot of the ridge of Wetherlam Edge. It is then a steep ascent (around 200 metres in half a kilometre – 40%) up the latter ridge to reach the summit.
Wetherlam is often climbed as part of the "Coniston Round", a circuit of the skyline of the Coppermines Valley that takes in Swirl How, Brim Fell, the Old Man of Coniston and optionally Dow Crag.
The Old Man of Coniston is a fell in the Furness Fells of the Lake District in Cumbria, England, and is the highest point of the historic county of Lancashire. It is at least 2,632.62 feet (802.42 m) high, and lies to the west of the village of Coniston and the lake, Coniston Water. The fell is sometimes known by the alternative name of Coniston Old Man, or simply The Old Man. The mountain is popular with tourists and fell-walkers with a number of well-marked paths to the summit. The mountain has also seen extensive copper and slate mining activity for eight hundred years, and the remains of abandoned mines and spoil tips are a significant feature of the north-east slopes.
Dale Head is a fell in the north-western sector of the Lake District, in northern England. It is 753 metres above sea level and stands immediately north of Honister Pass, the road between Borrowdale and Buttermere.
Cold Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It is a satellite of Crinkle Crags and stands above the Upper Duddon Valley.
Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet "Great" distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere in Cumbria.
Holme Fell or Holm Fell is a fell in the Lake District in Cumbria, England. It is located between Coniston Water and Little Langdale, almost isolated from the neighbouring Coniston Fells by Yewdale Beck.
Pike o' Blisco, or Pike of Blisco, is a mountain in the Lake District in Cumbria, England. Located between the valleys of Great Langdale and Little Langdale, its relative isolation from neighbouring fells together with slopes falling away immediately from the summit in all directions mean it has excellent views: the view of the Langdale Pikes across Great Langdale is particularly arresting.
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". Its rocky cone is indeed in great contrast to the grassy dome of High Raise.
Dow Crag is a fell in the English Lake District near Coniston, Cumbria. The eastern face is one of the many rock faces in the Lake District used for rock climbing.
Steel Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, lying between Thirlmere and Grasmere. It is triangular in plan, the ridges running north, west and south east. Steel Fell rises to the west of the Dunmail Raise road and can be climbed from the summit, or from Grasmere and Wythburn.
Grey Friar is a fell in the English Lake District, it is one of the Coniston Fells and is situated 13 kilometres west-south-west of Ambleside. It reaches a height of 770 metres and stands to the north west of the other Coniston Fells, a little off the beaten track and tends to be the least visited of the group. It is quite a large fell and forms the eastern wall of the Duddon Valley for several kilometres, in fact all drainage from Grey Friar goes to the Duddon Valley and not to Coniston Water.
Swirl How is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands between Coniston and the Duddon Valley in the southern part of the District. It rivals the Old Man of Coniston as the highest point within the traditional County Palatine of Lancashire.
Black Fell is a fell in the English Lake District. It rises to the north of Tarn Hows, between Coniston and Hawkshead.
Brim Fell is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands to the west of Coniston village in the southern part of the District.
Great Carrs is a fell in the English Lake District. It stands above Wrynose Pass in the southern part of the District.
The Central Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Reaching their highest point at High Raise, they occupy a broad area to the east of Borrowdale. The Central Fells are generally lower than the surrounding hills, the Lake District's dome-like structure having a slight dip in the middle. The range extends from the boggy ridge between Derwentwater and Thirlmere in the north, to the rock peaks of the Langdale Pikes in the south.
The Southern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Including Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England, they occupy a broad area to the south of Great Langdale, Borrowdale and Wasdale. High and rocky towards the centre of the Lake District, the Southern Fells progressively take on a moorland character toward the south-west. In the south-east are the well-known Furness Fells, their heavily quarried flanks rising above Coniston Water.
Little Langdale is a valley in the Lake District, England, containing Little Langdale Tarn and a hamlet also called Little Langdale. A second tarn, Blea Tarn, is in a hanging valley between Little Langdale and the larger Great Langdale to the north. Little Langdale is flanked on the south and southwest by Wetherlam and Swirl How, and to the north and northwest by Lingmoor Fell and Pike of Blisco. The valley descends to join with Great Langdale above Elter Water.
Levers Water is a small lake in the English Lake District. It is located at the head of the Coppermines Valley, above Coniston village. To its south-west is Raven Tor, a spur of Brim Fell, and to its north-west are Little How Crags and Great How Crags, on the eastern side of the north–south ridge leading to Swirl How.
Birk Fell Hawse Mine is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is located on the Tilberthwaite Fells, near Wetherlam mountain, close to Little Langdale. This protected area has been designated because of the geology of the area.