Ingleborough () is the second-highest mountain in 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. It is one of the

Yorkshire Three Peaks The mountains of Whernside (), Ingleborough () and Pen-y-ghent () are collectively known as the Three Peaks. The peaks, which form part of the Pennines, Pennine range, encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales ...

(the other two being

Whernside Whernside is a mountain in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. It is the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the other two being Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent. It is the highest point in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire Mickle F ...

and Pen-y-ghent), and is frequently climbed as part of the Three Peaks walk. A large part of Ingleborough is designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

and National Nature Reserve and is the home of a multi-agency project, Wild Ingleborough, with aims to improve the landscape for wildlife and people.

Name

The first element of the name "Ingleborough" has been variably explained as a Scots term for 'beacon, fire', an

Old Danish The Danish language developed during the Middle Ages out of Old East Norse, the common predecessor of Danish and Swedish. It was a late form of common Old Norse. The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided the history of Danish in ...

term meaning 'English' or a derivative of

Old English 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-S ...

''ing'', 'peak'. The second element is derived from the Old English word ''

burh A burh () or burg was an Anglo-Saxon fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constru ...

'', meaning "a fortified place"; in this case, a

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

. The summit plateau of Ingleborough is encircled by the remains of a massive stone rampart, containing the foundations of

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

huts.

Geography

Ingleborough is in the south-western corner of the

, at the highest point of a triangle of land with corners at Ingleton, Ribblehead and Settle. The hill is connected to its nearest higher neighbour, Whernside, by a low col or

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

at Ribblehead at approximately . Ingleborough throws out a ridge to the north-east which develops into a summit, Simon Fell, and another summit further down, Park Fell. An ill-defined ridge going south-east from the summit breaks into two large areas of limestone plateau at about ; both plateaux contain summits and these are the subsidiary summits of Norber and Moughton. On the slopes of the former are the famed Norber Boulders. Continuing south-east the high land is broken by a divide carrying the minor road from Austwick to Helwith Bridge. On the other side of the divide the low summit of Smearsett Scar rises along with its subsidiaries, Pot Scar and Giggleswick Scar; from here the land falls away to the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

at Settle. On the western side of Ingleborough is a large limestone plateau appropriately known as White Scars. White Scar Caves run for below the plateau, and their entrance series has been developed as a

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

. The plateau is bounded by Raven Scar, the longest unbroken cliff in the district, and on top of it is the pothole of Meregill Hole. On the southern side (west of the Clapham path) is a similar plateau, containing potholes such as Fluted Hole and Pillar Hole.

The plateau to the north of Norber, an area known as The Allotment, is particularly rich in potholes; one of these, Long Kin East, can be followed without specialist caving equipment for . Also here is Juniper Gulf, which descends underground through an arduous rift, dominated by a small geological fault. The Smearsett Scar region contains the Celtic Wall, the Ebbing and Flowing Well (which has now stopped ebbing and flowing) and a glacial hollow known as the Happy Valley.

Ascents

There are several popular

hillwalking Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultiva ...

routes to its summit. The most frequently used starting point is probably the village of Ingleton, about to the southwest. An ascent from here is about there and back. The route follows a walled lane, Fell Lane, before emerging onto a flat area, Crina Bottom, scattered with potholes including the considerable Quaking Pot. A steep climb through the limestone cliffs leads to the summit. The hill may also be climbed from Horton in Ribblesdale to the east, following a route crossing extensive areas of

limestone pavement A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial Sidewalk, pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have devel ...

in the region of Sulber Nick. This is the route of descent of the Three Peaks Walk and has been heavily improved by the National Trust, having changed in just thirty years from no path at all to a serious example of footpath erosion. Another route on this flank is from the isolated farmstead of Crummack. There is also a route from

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

that follows the Ingleborough Estate nature trail, before passing the Craven Fault, the showcave of Ingleborough Cave, the ravine of Trow Gill and the

pothole A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affecte ...

of Gaping Gill. It then crosses a marshy area and climbs up to the shoulder of Little Ingleborough before following the ridge to the summit. The return to Clapham can be varied by taking the Horton-in-Ribblesdale path for before striking south through more limestone pavement to the small top of Norber; a descent past the famed Norber erratics (Norber Boulders) finishes a walk of that Wainwright considered the finest walk in the Yorkshire Dales. An alternative route from the south-west side of the triangle starts at Newby Cote, roughly a mile northwest of Clapham on the minor road heading towards Ingleton. This path proceeds ENE until it joins the main path from Clapham about a mile from the summit. There is a northern route from the Hill Inn at Chapel-le-Dale, the route of ascent used by the Three Peaks Walk and the shortest way up the mountain, being just from village to summit. An interesting walk across a limestone plateau with many caves, including Great Douk Cave and Meregill Hole, is followed by a steep and tedious climb to the shoulder of the subsidiary summit of Simon Fell at , a mile to the north-east of the summit. The passage from here to the summit is high-level and exhilarating, but requires some

scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It can be described as being between hiking and climbing, rock climbing. "A scramble" is a relat ...

. Finally there are unwaymarked routes heading NE across Simon Fell and Souther Scales Fell both of which reach a steep descent just beyond the triangulation pillar on Park Fell to reach the Right of Way at New Close. Both routes give commanding views of the area.

The summit

Limestone pavement and Ingleborough from Whernside

The summit is a broad plateau half a mile in circumference, slightly convex, higher to the north-west than to the south-east, and carpeted with dry turf. There is 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 ...

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 ...

(number S. 5619) at the highest point, near the western corner. Just to the north is a well-built windshelter (cross-shaped to provide shelter whichever way the wind is blowing) with a view indicator or

toposcope A toposcope, topograph, or orientation table is a kind of graphic display erected at viewing points on hills, mountains or other high places which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features which can be seen ...

built into its centre. Between them is 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 ...

. At the point where the Ingleton path reaches the summit rim is an even larger cairn; this, remarkably, is the remains of a battlemented round tower (a

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

), built in 1830. The celebrations on the day of its opening ceremony became so alcoholic, however, that parts of it were thrown down there and then, the rest being destroyed later. Along the northern and eastern edges of the plateau are the tumbled remains of a wall, once believed to have been a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

military camp but now known to be an Iron Age hill fort. For the view, which is far-reaching and superb, see here. The hill fort, which covers and of which the defensive wall can still be seen although much robbed for stone, contains the remains of several hut circles. It is now thought that this was in fact

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, built by the

Brigantes The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geog ...

, the largest amalgamation of tribes in

Iron Age Britain The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ir ...

. The fort was known to the Romans as the Kings Fort. It may be that this was a base for Venutius after his 'divorce' from

Cartimandua Cartimandua or Cartismandua (reigned ) was a 1st-century queen of the Brigantes, a Celtic people living in what is now northern England. She is known through the writings of Roman historian Tacitus. She came to power during the time period that ...

, the Brigantes Queen who was a supporter of the Roman invaders, unlike Venutius who led several rebellions. What we do know is that this fort was used all year, which was unusual for such a location, but at the time of the Romans the climate was much milder, the Romans for example cultivating grapes in Newcastle.

Geology

The striking appearance of Ingleborough from all directions and from a great distance is due to the unusual

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

of the underlying rock. The base of the mountain is composed of ancient Silurian and Ordovician rocks which are exposed in the valley bottoms to the north of Ingleton. A belt of Carboniferous Limestone, the 'Great Scar Limestone', some thick, lies on top of this. Due to the limestone's permeability, all the streams flowing down from the mountain are engulfed upon reaching it, falling into a number of potholes. Above lies the layered Yoredale Series of sedimentary rocks, predominantly

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

and

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 ...

, and generally concealed by the

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

but revealed in the escarpments about up. There are also layers of harder limestone sandwiched between the softer rocks which have been eroded faster, and which protect the layers beneath them, leading to the 'tiered' effect. The whole mountain, however, is protected from erosion by a cap of

Millstone Grit Millstone Grit is any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the British Isles. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to ...

approximately tall. The rock above the Millstone Grit layer has been eroded away, which explains the comparative flatness of the summit. A good explanation of the geology and scenery of the area is given in Waltham.

The view

Important mountain peaks visible from Ingleborough are listed here, clockwise from north, with their distance in miles and bearing in degrees. The furthest peak visible is Manod Mawr in

Snowdonia Snowdonia, or Eryri (), is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales Welsh 3000s, over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (), which i ...

, North Wales, away on a bearing of 218 degrees.

North to east

* Wild Boar Fell, 15 miles, 5 degrees *

Mickle Fell Mickle Fell is a mountain in the Pennines, the range of hills and moors running down the middle of Northern England. It has a maximum elevation of . It lies slightly off the main watershed of the Pennines, about south of Cross Fell. After Cr ...

, 31 miles, 7 degrees * High Seat, 17 miles, 12 degrees * Great Knoutberry Hill, 8 miles, 21 degrees * Great Shunner Fell, 16 miles, 26 degrees * Lovely Seat, 15 miles, 34 degrees * Dodd Fell Hill, 9 miles, 45 degrees * Yockenthwaite Moor, 11 miles, 69 degrees *

Buckden Pike Buckden Pike is a fell at the head of Wharfedale, a valley in the Yorkshire Dales, that stands above the village of Buckden, North Yorkshire, Buckden, England. At , it narrowly misses out on being the highest peak in the area, the title instead ...

, 14 miles, 79 degrees * Plover Hill, 7 miles, 87 degrees

East to south

Great Whernside Great Whernside is a fell in the Yorkshire Dales, England, not to be confused with Whernside, some to the west. Its summit is the highest point of the eastern flank of Wharfedale above Kettlewell. Great Whernside forms the watershed between W ...

, 16 miles, 92 degrees * Pen-y-ghent, 6 miles, 98 degrees * Fountains Fell, 8 miles, 105 degrees * Thorpe Fell Top, 19 miles, 119 degrees *

Ilkley Moor Ilkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The moor, which rises to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level, is the inspiration for the Yorkshire "county anthem" ''On Ilkla Mo ...

, 30 miles, 128 degrees * Rye Loaf Hill, 10 miles, 132 degrees *

Boulsworth Hill Boulsworth Hill is a large expanse of moorland, the highest point of the South Pennines of south-eastern Lancashire, England, separating the Borough of Pendle from Calderdale. Its summit, Lad Law, is 1,696 ft (517 m) above sea level, ...

, 27 miles, 155 degrees *

Kinder Scout Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau and National nature reserve (United Kingdom), National Nature Reserve in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak Distric ...

, 58 miles, 159 degrees * Shining Tor, 65 miles, 166 degrees * Pendle Hill, 21 miles, 169 degrees

South to west

* Winter Hill, 38 miles, 188 degrees * White Hill, 11 miles, 203 degrees * Fair Snape Fell, 19 miles, 208 degrees * Moel Siabod, 99 miles, 221 degrees *

Ward's Stone Ward's Stone is the highest hill in the Forest of Bowland, England. Its flat top hides two trig points nearly a kilometre apart. The western trig point sits atop of large rocks, including one, the Ward's Stone, that is so large it attracts boulde ...

, 13 miles, 223 degrees * Carnedd Llewelyn, 95 miles, 224 degrees * Caton Moor, 12 miles, 236 degrees * Warton Crag, 15 miles, 266 degrees

West to north

* Snaefell, 84 miles, 275 degrees * Black Combe, 38 miles, 280 degrees *

Old Man of Coniston Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...

, 33 miles, 296 degrees * Scafell Pike, 38 miles, 302 degrees * Great Gable, 40 miles, 304 degrees *

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 ...

, 45 miles, 309 degrees * Gragareth, 4½ miles, 312 degrees *

Helvellyn Helvellyn (; possible #Names, meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere a ...

, 35 miles, 315 degrees *

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

, 29 miles, 321 degrees * Great Coum, 6 miles, 337 degrees * The Calf, 15 miles, 342 degrees * Yarlside, 15 miles, 347 degrees *

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 ...

, 37 miles, 355 degrees *

, 4 miles, 359 degrees

Gallery

Image:Ingleborough.jpg, Ingleborough seen on the ascent of Simon Fell Image:Ingleborough.JPG, Ingleborough as seen from the summit of

Image:Ingleborough mountain 02.JPG, Ingleborough ascent Image:Ingleborough Sept2015.jpg, Ingleborough from Little Ingleborough Image:IngleboroughSummit17Sept2015.jpg, Ingleborough Summit trig point

References

External links

Ingleborough National Nature Reserve

Routes to climb Ingleborough

{{Authority control Marilyns of England Hewitts of England Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales National nature reserves in England Nuttalls Sites of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire Yorkshire Three Peaks Mountains and hills of the United Kingdom with toposcopes Ingleton, North Yorkshire