Calf Top is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

in the western part of the Yorkshire Dales,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is located in the county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, although

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

are not far away. Calf Top is a dominating profile in the view from many of the smaller hills to its west, such as

Lambrigg Fell Lambrigg Fell is a hill, the highest point of the area of high ground between Kendal and the M6, in south-eastern Cumbria, England. It lies just outside the area normally defined as the Lake District, and the hill is not in the same mould as ...

and Hutton Roof Crags. Calf Top is separated from its neighbours, Great Coum and Aye Gill Pike by the deep trench of Barbondale, meaning that although it is lower than most of the hills in its region, it has high relative height and is a Marilyn.

Status as a mountain

The height was formerly shown on

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was ...

maps as 609 metres. The closeness of this figure to the threshold of used in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to separate mountains and hills led to the summit being surveyed using precision GPS and levelling equipment. The height was found to be 609.58 ± 0.1 m, or fractionally below 2,000 feet. The result was discussed with the authors of the Nuttalls, Hewitts and Deweys who all agreed that the hill should retain its current status as a member of Dewey's list of hills at least 500 metres but less than 609.6 metres high. Current OS maps show the height rounded to 610 metres. The Ordnance Survey recalculated the height of the mountain in 2016 when the authoritative definition of the British national height datum, Ordnance Datum Newlyn, was transitioned from the OSGM02

geoid The geoid () is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is exten ...

model to the OSGM05 version, causing a general upwards shift of 25mm in orthometric heights. This resulted in a height of 609.606 metres, thus updating the status of Calf Top from hill to mountain.

References

Mountains and hills of Cumbria Marilyns of England Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales Dent, Cumbria {{Cumbria-geo-stub