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 The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is located in the county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, although

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

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 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 In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

and is a Marilyn.

Status as a mountain

The height was formerly shown on

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

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the 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 Nuttall may refer to: People * Nuttall (name) * Nuttall baronets Nature * Nuttall's oak, a fast-growing large deciduous oak tree native to North America * Nuttall's woodpecker, a species of woodpecker found in oak woodlands of California * Nu ...

, 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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 exte ...

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