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Latrigg is one of the lowest
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 ...
s in the
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 ...
in
North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...
, but is a popular climb due to its convenient location overlooking the town of Keswick and the beautiful views down the valley of
Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...
from the summit. It is the least mountainous 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, the summit being almost entirely devoid of rock. The slopes of Latrigg are partially wooded, and logging work is currently being undertaken. One lone tree just south of the summit is prominently viewed in silhouette when approaching Keswick from the west along the A66. It also has petrified trees on top.


Etymology

The name ''Latrigg'' is first attested in 1220, in the form ''Laterhayheved''; this name was succeeded by 1666 by the form ''Latterig''. In the assessment of Diana Whaley, the origins of the name "are doubtful". ''Laterhayheved'' ends with the
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 ...
word (literally "head" but in place-names meaning "summit, top, high place"); the ''hay'' element of the same name might come from Old English or (both meaning "enclosure"). Evidently this had come to compete with an alternative form deriving from
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
("ridge"), which underlies the modern form ''Latrigg''. But the origins of the shared first element of both names are uncertain: Whaley suggested either Old Norse ("lair") or
Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
''lettir'' ("slope").. The name ''Mallen Dodd'', first attested in 1867 and denoting the steep, rounded spur that is the northern part of Latrigg, contains the dialectal word ''dodd'', whose origins are uncertain but which in local usage denotes a rounded hill-top. The element ''Mallen'' may come from the
personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...
''Mal(l)in'', a nickname for people called Mary, in which case the name once meant "Mary's hill-top", or from Old Irish ''maoilinn'' ("bare round hillock"), in which case the Irish name was once independent but was later supplemented by the tautologous English word ''dodd''.


Topography

Latrigg is the most southerly top of the Skiddaw massif and of the Northern Fells as a whole. It takes the form of a rounded hump at the terminus of a long descending ridge, and would be unremarkable if not for its location. To the north of Latrigg summit is an unnamed depression at about and rising beyond is a grassy rigg, climbing up to Jenkin Hill and the top of Skiddaw Little Man. Latrigg itself sends out a narrow ridge to the east, about a mile long and ending at Brundholm. The fell is bordered by the two streams falling from the northern col. Gale Gill runs west to join the River Derwent between
Derwentwater Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland within the ceremonial county of ...
and
Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is a body of water in the Lake District in North West England, near the town of Keswick. It has an area of , making the fourth largest of the lakes in the region. The lake has a length of approximately long and maximum wid ...
. The unnamed eastern stream joins Whit Beck and then flows into the River Greta, bound again for the Derwent via Keswick. The steep southern slopes are cloaked in the mixed woodland of Brundholme Wood and Whinny Brow, Latrigg's only crags being hidden in the trees. A public road from Keswick contours across this slope at around , giving access to the farms of Lonscale and Brundholm. Further mixed woodland has been planted on the north eastern slopes above Whit Beck. To the north west, on either bank of Gale Gill, are the conifer plantations of Birkett Wood and Mallen Dodd. A single track road climbs up the slope beside the wood, giving access to a car park on the depression to the north of the fell.


Geology

In common with much of the Northern Fells the Kirk Stile Formation of the Skiddaw Group predominates. This 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 ...
with
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 and is of
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 ...
age.British Geological Survey: 1:50,000 series maps, ''England & Wales Sheet 29'': BGS (1999) Two rock-slope failures exist on the southern slopes of Latrigg northeast of Keswick.
accessed on 9 Oct 2020. Geomorphological characteristics and significance of Late Quaternary paraglacial rock-slope failures on Skiddaw Group terrain, Lake District, northwest England


Summit

The top of the fell is sheep pasture, falling gently to the north and quite steeply to the south. Some stumps remain at the top of the southern slope as evidence of past deforestation, together with few small trees, bent down by the prevailing wind. A ditch and parapet run across the top. The parapet was the base of a fence, long since decayed, and the ditch was the source of the earth for its construction. Alfred WainwWainwright, Alfred: ''
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 5 The Northern Fells'':
The view northward is of the high grassy flanks of Skiddaw and Blencathra, impressive but lacking detail. To the south the contrast is total. Looking out over Keswick and down the full length of Derwentwater, the eye is drawn to Borrowdale and the high fells of Central Lakeland. Wainwright was moved to describe ''"a panorama of crowded detail, all of it of great beauty: indeed this scene is one of the gems of the district...The far horizon is a jumbled upheaval of peaks, with many dear old friends standing up proudly."'' Atop the summit, is a distinctive tree known as ''The Witch,'' given its shape which resembles a person riding a broomstick.


Ascents

Commonly Latrigg is ascended from Keswick, the route beginning along Spooney Green Lane near the old railway station and then either making direct for the top or swinging north via Mallen Dodd. Threlkeld is another starting point, first crossing the Glenderaterra Beck and then climbing up the east ridge. The easiest way is to park at the end of Gale Road, from where the summit is a simple 10‑minute stroll on grass, the most accessible of all the 214
Wainwrights Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cu ...
. This car park is commonly used as the starting point for the ascent of Skiddaw, although the purist will first climb Latrigg from Keswick before setting foot upon its parent. A recently constructed path allows disabled access to the summit of Latrigg from the car park.


Gallery

Image:View_from_Latrigg.jpg, Keswick and Derwent Water seen from Latrigg summit. Image:Skiddaw in the fog.jpg,
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 ...
in the fog from Latrigg. Image:Sale How.jpg, Blencathra from Latrigg


References


Lake District Walks - Latrigg Walk
* Complete Lakeland Fells, Bill Birkett, {{Lake District North Fells of the Lake District British toponymy Celtic toponyms