Leck Fell is 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 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. An area of typically heavily grazed open moorland of rough grass and remnant patches of heather with little or no tree cover, it is characterised by the virtual absence of surface drainage and an extensive subterranean drainage network resulting in cave systems and numerous

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

s. It surrounds the high point of Gragareth between Leck Beck and Kingsdale. Since 1 August 2016, Leck Fell has been part of the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England which covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, the Howgill Fells, and the Orton Fells. The Nidderdale area of the Yorkshire Dales is not within the national park, and has instead ...

The SSSI

This site consists of a network of cave systems and their catchment areas, with Ease Gill Caverns being the longest cave system in Britain. There are fourteen major sinkholes through which surface water enters the system, with water returning to the surface at Leck Beck Head. The botanical interest of the site is due to the underlying Carboniferous Limestone, which appears above ground as features such as crags,

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 ...

s, gorges and potholes. The pasturing of animals, along with changes in the climate in the later

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, contributed to deforestation of the open fell sides and the development of hill peat deposits. The present landscape is dominated by long straight enclosure walls of late 18th or 19th century date.

Ecology

At Easegill, the limestone cliffs support rigid buckler fern, limestone polypody and mossy saxifrage. Downstream from here, in a steep wooded gorge, there are eleven species of fern and such plants as wood forget-me-not, hairy rock-cress, wall lettuce, sanicle and whitlow grass. In contrast, the more acid rock at Aygill supports wood rush, hard fern and beech fern. The steep slopes around some potholes have similar "woodland"-type flora. In some places there are

s, in whose cracks and fissures grow ferns and the unusual subshrub baneberry, out of reach of grazing sheep.

Cave systems

The

Three Counties System The Three Counties System is a set of inter-connected limestone solutional cave systems spanning the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire in the north of England. The possibility of connecting a number of discrete cave systems in ...

, which extends from Kingsdale to Barbondale, includes a number of important cave systems lying beneath Leck Fell. These include: *

Death's Head Hole Death's Head Hole is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. Its entrance is a deep shaft. It leads into Lost Johns' Cave and is part of the Three Counties System, an cave system which spans the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire, and North ...

* Long Drop Cave *

Lost Johns' Cave Lost Johns' Cave is an extensive cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, England. With its three major vertical routes (''Dome Route'', ''Centipede Route'' and ''Monastery Route'') it is a popular place to practise single-rope technique (SRT) bec ...

Notts Pot Notts Pot is cave system on Leck Fell, Lancashire, 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 i ...

Rumbling Hole Rumbling Hole is a cave on Leck Fell, in Lancashire, England. Its entrance is a deep fenced shaft, and it rapidly descends a series of pitches to a low aqueous passage that has been connected to Lost Johns' Cave. It is part of the Three Count ...

Short Drop Cave - Gavel Pot System Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

A formal permitting system operates for access to most of the caves.

References

{{City of Lancaster geography Mountains and hills of Lancashire Geography of the City of Lancaster Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Lancashire