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Crag Hill 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 North Western part of the English
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 ...
. It was formerly known as Eel Crag; however, the
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 ...
now marks Eel Crag as referring to the northern
crag Crag may refer to: * Crag (climbing), a cliff or group of cliffs, in any location, which is or may be suitable for climbing * Crag (dice game), a dice game played with three dice * Crag, Arizona, US * Crag, West Virginia, US * Crag and tail, a ...
s of the fell. It is not to be confused with another
Crag Hill Crag Hill is a mountain in the North Western part of the English Lake District. It was formerly known as Eel Crag; however, the Ordnance Survey now marks Eel Crag as referring to the northern crags of the fell. It is not to be confused with ano ...
lying on the border of North Yorkshire. It overlooks the valleys of Rannerdale on the west, and Coledale on the east. It is the second highest fell in the area of high ground between the passes of
Whinlatter Whinlatter is a small fell in the north west of the English Lake District, just north of the Whinlatter Pass. It is easily climbed from the top of the Whinlatter Pass, through the Forestry England plantations. The Whinlatter Visitor's Centre, a ...
and
Newlands Newlands may refer to: Places Australia * Newlands, Queensland, a locality in the Whitsunday Region * Newlands, Western Australia, a town in the Shire of Donnybrook–Balingup Ireland * Newlands Cross, Dublin, named after the former Newlands ...
, second to
Grasmoor Grasmoor is a mountain in the north-western part of the Lake District, northern England. It is the highest peak in a group of hills between the villages of Lorton, Cumbria, Lorton, Braithwaite and Buttermere, and overlooks Crummock Water. Grasm ...
. It is high, and has a
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 ...
of .


Topography

The
North Western Fells The North Western Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Including such favourites as Catbells and Grisedale Pike, they occupy an oval area beneath the Buttermere and Borrowdale valley systems. The North We ...
occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north–south axis. Two roads cross from east to west, dividing the fells into three convenient groups. The central sector, rising between Whinlatter and Newlands passes, includes Crag Hill. The highest ground in the North Western Fells is an east–west ridge in this central sector, beginning with Grasmoor above
Crummock Water Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It is long, wide, deep, and has an area of . The lake's primary inflow is Buttermere Dubs, itself the outflow of Buttermere, and its outflow is the River Cocker, which mee ...
and then gradually descending eastwards over Crag Hill,
Sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...
,
Scar Crags Scar Crags is a fell in the north western part of the English Lake District in the county of Cumbria. It is one of the Coledale group of fells situated south west of Keswick and reaches a height of . Topography The fell is part of the long ri ...
and
Causey Pike Causey Pike is a fell in the English Lake District. It is situated in the Newlands Valley, south-west of the town of Keswick. Even though it has a modest height of it is one of the most distinctive fells when viewed from the Derwent Water a ...
. Grasmoor has the greatest elevation, but Crag Hill stands at the hub of the range. In plan it appears as a cross with ridges running to the four points of the compass. To the north of Crag Hill is the
col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...
of
Coledale Hause Hill passes of the Lake District were originally used by people in one valley travelling to another nearby without having to go many miles around a steep ridge of intervening hills. Historically, in the Lake District of northwest England, trave ...
, the high level connection to
Hopegill Head Hopegill Head is a fell in the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is located west of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick and is well seen from the B5292 road which crosses the Whinlatter Pass. Topography Hopegill Head is the middle fell ...
, focal point of a parallel but slightly lower ridge. Valleys descend from either side of Coledale Hause, running between these two ridges. Gasgale Gill (or Liza Beck on OS maps) flows westward to the River Cocker, while Coledale Beck runs eastwards to the Derwent. Guarding the way up from the Hause to Crag Hill is Eel Crag, the face which gave the fell its former name. Crag Hill also has a southern ridge which steps down toward
Buttermere Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It has a length of approximately and a maximum width of , an area of , a maximum depth of , and a surface elevation of above sea level. Its primary outflow is Buttermere Dubs, a ...
over
Wandope Wandope (also known as ''Wanlope''Alfred Wainwright: ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Book 6, The North Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1964): is a fell in the north-western area of the English Lake District. It lies to the eas ...
and
Whiteless Pike Whiteless Pike, high, is a fell in the north-western English Lake District. It stands immediately east of Crummock Water and forms a pyramid shape when viewed from Rannerdale. In his celebrated guide to the Lakeland fells, A Wainwright calle ...
. The valley of Rannerdale forms the western boundary with Sail Beck on the other side. Both empty into Crummock Water. The highest part of Crag Hill is near the 'cross' where the four ridges meet. Moving further east towards Sail, the ridge tapers down with crags on either side. Scott Crags stands over Coledale and Scar Crag (not to be confused with Scar Crags) looks down on Sail Beck. Beneath Scar Crag is Addacomb Hole, a deep corrie without a tarn. By contrast to the west of the summit the slopes are smooth and wide, although still steep.


Geology

The summit areas of Crag Hill are composed of the
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...
Kirkstile Formation. This is the typical rock of the
Skiddaw Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is traditionally considered to be the List of Wainwrights, fourth-highest peak but depending on what topographic prominence is thought to be significant is also ...
fells and is composed of laminated
mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...
and
siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...
. Beneath this are the
Greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
turbidites of the Loweswater Formation. The Causey Pike Fault runs across the southern flanks of the fell, beyond which are the rocks of the Buttermere Formation.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999) Although there is much evidence of mining activity in the surrounding fells, Crag Hill itself has remained untouched.Adams, John: ''Mines of the Lake District Fells'': Dalesman (1995)


Summit

The summit bears an
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 ...
triangulation column, set on a stony plateau. The view is excellent, although robbed of some foreground by the flat expanse of the top. All of the major fell groups can be seen with the
Scafells The Scafells, or Scafell Massif, are a range of fells in the Cumbrian Mountains of England, made up of the remains of a caldera volcano. Fells in the range include Broad Crag, Ill Crag, Scafell, and Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain. G ...
particularly fine. Although a higher neighbour, Grasmoor detracts little from the view to the west.
Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright Order of the British Empire, MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalking, fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume ''Pictorial ...
: ''
A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...
, Book 6, The North Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1964):
Bill Birkett:''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):


Ascents

From the shore of Crummock Water, Rannerdale Beck can be followed to its source, gaining the ridge between Crag Hill and Wandope. The alternative western route follows Gasgale Gill up to its birthplace on Coledale Hause. From Braithwaite near Keswick at the opposite end of the ridge, Coledale Hause is also the first objective. From here a simple ascent turns Eel Crag to the west, although Wainwright listed more interesting alternatives on the eastern side of the crag. Many ascents of Crag Hill are made indirectly as part of a full
traverse Traverse may refer to: Places * Traverse, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Traverse City, Michigan * Traverse County, Minnesota, a county in Minnesota Other * Traverse (climbing), moving horizontally on a climbing or mountaineering route ...
of the Grasmoor to Causey Pike ridge. Climbs from Buttermere via Whiteless Pike and Wandope are also practicable. Finally, rounds of either Coledale or Gasgale Gill, crossing to or from Hopegill Head via Coledale Hause, provide fine horseshoe walks for those needing to return to their starting point.


Protection

Crag Hill is within Buttermere Fells Site of Special Scientific Interest. The land surface of Crag Hill mountain is owned by the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
.


References

{{North Western Fells Fells of the Lake District Hewitts of England Nuttalls Buttermere, Cumbria (village)