Kirkby Moor

Kirkby Moor is a poorly defined

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

area in southern

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, named after the village of

Kirkby-in-Furness Kirkby-in-Furness, generally referred to simply as Kirkby locally, is a village that is the major part of the parish of Kirkby Ireleth in the Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Lancashire, ...

, but stretching both sides of the

A5092 road List of A roads in zone 5 in Great Britain starting north/east of the A5, west of the A6, south of the Solway Firth/Eden Estuary The River Eden is a river in Fife in Scotland, and is one of Fife's two principal rivers, along with the Lev ...

, and thus spanning the border of the

Lake District National Park 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 ...

. The highest area, to the south of the road, and therefore outside the national park, is named Lowick High Common 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 "Kirkby Moor" is more commonly but incorrectly used. Lowick High common is the first UK SOTA summit to be activated 100 times. The highest point of Lowick High Common and of Kirkby Moor is 333 m above sea level. The major man-made features are a slate quarry operated by Burlington Slate Ltd and a wind farm consisting of 12 400 kW turbines which is operated by RWE Innogy. The

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 ...

is crossed by several public

footpaths A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

, as well as the Kirkby Slate Road, which has a right of access. There are also numerous tracks built across the fell in association with the wind turbines; although notices request walkers to stick to the public rights of way, in practice there is no issue with using the newer tracks, and from 28 May 2005 the land is access land under the

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), also known as the CRoW Act and "Right to Roam" Act, is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act impleme ...

. The wide range of paths allows for many start points and routes to explore the heather-covered moor. Marilyns of England Fells of the Lake District Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria Furness Wind farms in England Moorlands of England {{UK-powerstation-stub