Dent is a small

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...

on the fringe of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

near the towns of

Cleator Moor Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Cleator. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the new settlement of Cleator Moor was built on the moo ...

and

Egremont Egremont may refer to: Places * Egremont, Cumbria, England * Egremont, Merseyside, England * Egremont, Massachusetts, United States * Egremont, Alberta, Canada Other uses * Earl of Egremont Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Gr ...

. Sometimes known as Long Barrow, it is traditionally the first fell encountered by hikers following Wainwright's

Coast to Coast Walk The Coast to Coast Walk is a long-distance footpath between the west and east coasts of Northern England, nominally long. Devised by Alfred Wainwright, it passes through three contrasting national parks: the Lake District National Park, ...

. It slopes from the westerly point of the

National Park. At its highest point it stands at only 352 metres (1155 feet), but offers uninterrupted views of the

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 ...

n coast from the

Ravenglass Ravenglass is an English coastal village in west Cumbria that lies between Barrow-in-Furness and Whitehaven, on the estuary of three rivers: the Esk, Mite and Irt. It is the only coastal village in the Lake District National Park. Formerly in ...

estuary in the south to the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

and across to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the north. In the west the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

can be easily seen, and views to the east extend to the high peaks of

Pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

and the Sca Fells. �
Dent Hill
�� was one of the five stations in Cumberland used by the Ordnance Survey to measure the angles of Principal Triangles for their initial survey of Britain in the years up to and including 1809. The other stations were

Black Combe Black Combe is a fell in the south-west corner of the Lake District National Park, England, just from the Irish Sea. It lies near the west coast of Cumbria in the district of Cumberland and more specifically, in the ancient district of Millom ...

, Scilly Banks (on the outskirts of Whitehaven), High Pike and

Cross Fell Cross Fell is the highest mountain in the Pennines of Northern England and the highest point in England outside the Lake District. It is located in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies within the county of Cumbria and ...

. The absence of a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The station is usually set up by a map ...

suggests that Dent was not used in the

Retriangulation of Great Britain The Retriangulation of Great Britain was a triangulation (surveying), triangulation project carried out between 1935 and 1962 that sought to improve the accuracy of maps of Great Britain. Data gathered from the retriangulation replaced data gat ...

. Over the past 20 years a man-made forest has been planted on the slopes of the fell facing north towards

. This process was carried out to reduce the rate of erosion on the fell. There is already a mature forest on the southern slopes of the fell and public pedestrian access via a gate at Nannycatch. There is a road at the base of the fell, known locally as ‘the fell road’ (was known as The Roman Road - Fell Road referred to the road from Ennerdale village to Calder Abby. Usage changed over the past 50 years), which runs from

. The road is still used by locals, despite its poor quality and that it doesn't represent a shortcut. The

River Ehen The River Ehen is a river in Cumbria, England. The river's source is at the west end of Ennerdale Water: it runs west through Ennerdale Bridge where it is joined by Croasdale Beck (flowing from Banna Fell). Ennerdale Water itself is fed by the ...

also tracks along the base of the fell and the aforementioned road. Dent, along with Flat Fell, is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book ''

The Outlying Fells of Lakeland ''The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'' is a 1974 book written by Alfred Wainwright dealing with hills in and around the Lake District of England. It differs from Wainwright's ''Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Pictorial Guides'' in that each ...

''. His clockwise route to the two summits starts at Wath Brow.

References

{{Marilyns N Eng Marilyns of England Fells of the Lake District Cumberland (unitary authority)