Gavel Fell is a hill in 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 ...

. Centremost of the five

Loweswater Fells Loweswater is a village and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England. Village Historically part of Cumberland, the village lies between the Lake District lakes of Loweswater and Crummock Water, about south of Cockermouth and within the L ...

in the western part of the District, it stands between

Hen Comb Hen Comb is a fell in the west of the English Lake District. One of the Loweswater Fells it lies to the south of Loweswater lake and Loweswater village. Although of only moderate height, its ascent can be difficult as it is largely surrounded ...

and Blake Fell. Of moderate altitude it can be climbed from

Loweswater Loweswater is one of the smaller lakes in the English Lake District. The village of Loweswater is situated to the east of the lake. Geography The lake is not far from Cockermouth and is also easily reached from elsewhere in West Cumbria. T ...

village, or from Croasdale to the west.

Topography

The

Western Fells The Western Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Centred on Great Gable, they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale. The Western Fells have high ridges and an abundance of naked rock. P ...

occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and

Wasdale Wasdale (; traditionally ) is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is ...

to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are

Great Gable Great Gable is a mountain in the Lake District, United Kingdom. It is named after its appearance as a pyramid from Wasdale, though it is dome-shaped from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there ar ...

and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley.

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, Volume 7 The Western Fells'': Westmorland Gazette (1966): Gavel Fell and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm. The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village. From the west these are Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell,

and

Mellbreak Mellbreak is a hill in the Western part of the English Lake District. Despite being surrounded on all sides by higher fells (the Loweswater Fells, the High Stile Ridge and the Grasmoor Group), it stands in isolation. It is surrounded on three si ...

, the "thumb". Gavel Fell being the "middle finger" has a long ridge running south west from the valley. This rises gently at first past High Nook farm, before accelerating its climb up the face of Black Crag to the summit plateau. A subsidiary top at is reached first, unnamed 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 but referred to as High Nook in some guidebooks.Bill Birkett: Complete Lakeland Fells: Collins Willow (1994): The ridge widens, damply, and turns south at the summit, dropping over a rough patch of ground named White Oak. Beyond is Banna Fell, , which could lay claim to separate status but is generally considered a subsidiary of Gavel Fell. Banna Fell has a very prominent eastern top named Floutern Cop, . On the

side Gavel Fell is neatly contained by Highnook Beck to the north west and Whiteoak Beck to the east. These merge beneath the nose of the ridge at High Nook Farm, before joining Dub Beck, the outflow of Loweswater. One of the feeders of Highnook Beck is High Nook Tarn, a small pool with a low earth dam.

Tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or "corrie") excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mou ...

are unusual in this part of the District, although Gavel Fell has a share in a second on its southern boundary. This is Floutern Tarn, lying beneath Floutern Cop. A long brooding pool with a depth of about , Floutern Tarn drains east and then north into the morass of Mosedale.Blair, Don: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): A walker's pass, Floutern Tarn Pass, crosses beside Floutern, providing access from

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 ...

to Ennerdale. The western side follows Gill Beck, the southern boundary of Gavel Fell. The western face of the fell is drained by Croasdale Beck, a tributary of the Ehen.

Geology

Gavel Fell is formed from rocks of the Kirk Stile Formation, commonly associated with 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 ...

range. These consist 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 ...

.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999) Whiteoak Lead Mine consisted of several levels and a shaft, operating between 1864 and 1891. This was worked on both flanks of Whiteoak Gill, but failed to achieve commercial success. There are also the remains of an iron mine near the outlet of Floutern Tarn, worked patchily through the 1860s.Adams, John: ''Mines of the Lake District Fells'': Dalesman (1995)

Summit

The highest point is marked by a large

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

on a grassy plateau. The view seawards is blocked in part by Blake Fell, but there is a fine array of fells eastward. The

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 ...

group form the highlight.

Ascents

From Loweswater a start can be made up the track to High Nook farm. At the tarn, the walker can turn to either flank of the ridge to pass Black Crag, before making for the summit. From Croasdale the west ridge of Banna Fell can be used, although entailing a roundabout route, as walkers are no longer welcome to use the more direct line up Croasdale Beck to White Oak (this route has now been omitted from the revised edition of Wainwright's guide to the Western Fells). Ascents via Floutern Pass can also be soured by the attitude of the landowner, who covets every last blade of grass.

References

{{Western Fells Fells of the Lake District Loweswater (village) Cumberland (unitary authority)