High Rigg 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 ...

located 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 ...

, approximately three miles southeast of the town of Keswick. It occupies an unusual position, surrounded on all sides by higher fells but not connected by any obvious

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

. This separation from its fellows ensures that it is a Marilyn (a hill with

topographic prominence 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 at least 150m).

Name

The word ''Rigg'' is from the

Old English language Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo- ...

and means a bumpy fell or ridge.

Topography

High Rigg is strictly the continuation of the ridge running up the western shore of

Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a numbe ...

, whose high point is Raven Crag. This forms the watershed between the Shoulthwaite and Thirlmere/ Vale of St John systems. The depression between High Rigg and Raven Crag to the south — at only around — is at Smaithwaite, just south of the A591 Keswick to

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

road. High Rigg resembles a model of the Lakeland Fells in miniature, complete with crags, intermediate tops, tarns and even a 'pass' crossing the ridge halfway along, complete with church. The northern and southern aspects of the fell are largely grassed and gently rolling, in contrast to the western and eastern flanks which are steep with numerous rocky outcroppings and cliffs. Travelling south to north the main features are Wren Crag (1,020 ft), overlooking the Vale of St John, Yew Crag (1,000 ft) facing west and then two tops at and respectively. The ridge then falls to the 'pass' and St. John's church, before rising again to Low Rigg (836 ft). Finally, comes Tewet Tarn as the ridge falls away to the river Greta. Also known as Tewfit Tarn, this shallow pool stands on a shelf, overlooked by higher rocks.Don Blair: ''Exploring Lakeland Tarns'': Lakeland Manor Press (2003): Birkett, Bill: ''Complete Lakeland Fells'': Collins Willow (1994):

Geology

The geology of the ridge is complex with much small scale faulting. Gravel and

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...

overlay much of the fell which lies between two branches of the Coniston Fault, with the

plagioclase Plagioclase ( ) is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continu ...

-phyric

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

lavas of the Birker Fell Formation beneath. Low Rigg exhibits intrusions of microgranite to the surface.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999)

Summit

The summit has a

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 ...

set on an outcrop and commands a fine view of the surrounding fells. The giants of

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 ...

and Blencathra dominate the view to the north, and Clough Head and the Helvellyn range the view east. Thirlmere is visible to the south and Bleaberry Fell to the west, over which the Scafell group can be seen on a clear day.Mark Richards: ''The Central Fells'': Collins (2003): HighRigg HelvellynRange

Ascents

The hill may be climbed in a short twenty-minute

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

from the ''

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

of St John's in the Vale''. It only involves about 120 m (400 ft) of climb and is one of the shortest ascents in the Lakes. Alternatively, a traverse of the fell's three-mile (5 km) long ridge may be made, starting at Tewit Tarn and finishing near Shoulthwaite.

References

{{Marilyns N Eng Fells of the Lake District Marilyns of England