Parlick (also known as Parlick Pike) is an approximately cone-shaped steep-sided hill at the extreme south of the main range of Bowland fells in

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. It has an elevation of above sea level.

Origin of the name

Regarding the origin of the name, Professor

Eilert Ekwall Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall (8 January 1877 in Vallsjö – 23 November 1964 in Lund) was a Swedish academic, Professor of English at Sweden's Lund University from 1909 to 1942 and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language in the firs ...

, in his 1922 ''The Place-names of Lancashire'', writes: :".. (caput de) Pirloc 1228 C1R, Perlak 1228 WhC 371, Pireloke 1338 LPR, Pyrelok pyke c 1350 ib. The name cannot mean "

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...

orchard" as Wyld suggests. But the etymology may be correct with a slight amendment. O.E. ''loc'' means "fold for sheep or goats." A sheep fold at which grew a peartree (O.E. ''pyrige'') may very well have been at the foot of or on the slope of the hill; this may have been called Parlick (Pirloc) and have given the hill its name. For a probable earlier name see under Core, p. 143."

Recreation

Parlick has an elevation of above sea level and a

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 about . The bog-free sides of Parlick make it more popular with walkers than the shallow boggy hills to its north. Paths zigzag up this hill from the south, or for the more strenuous ascent a straight path can be chosen. This hill is usually green — different from the often thorny brown to red of the northern hills. A thin neck joins Parlick onto

Fair Snape Fell Fair Snape Fell is one of the larger hills in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. It reaches with a prominence of and is classed as a Marilyn. It occupies a position in the very south of the main range of fells, alongside and just ...

with well-worn paths linking the two. The summit consists of little more than a flat collection of stones, leaving the walker to look at the view, south to Preston and Winter Hill near

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, east toward

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

, and west towards

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. Parlick is a popular venue for foot-launched and conventional gliders, because it produces good ridge lift in an unusually wide variety of wind directions. The extensive west-facing bowl allows

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched Glider (aircraft), glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a :wikt:harness, harness or in ...

pilots to fly to Fair Snape Fell and beyond without leaving reliable ridge lift and as far forwards as Beacon Fell. Local pilots use this arena for club competitions, such as the 'Parlick Grid Challenge'

The boundary between the boroughs of Wyre and

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...

passes very close to the summit, with half of the hill lying within each borough.

Local aspects

The hill and its environs are the location of the legend of the enormous

Dun Cow The Dun Cow is a common Motif (folkloristics), motif in English folklore. "Dun" is a dull shade of brownish grey. Dunsmore Heath The Dun Cow was said to be a savage beast roaming Dunsmore Heath, an area west of Dunchurch, near Rugby, Warwickshi ...

, which was reputed to wander freely across the moorland, and to be in the habit of quenching its thirst at "Nick's Water-Pot", a well on the summit of Parlick. " Parlick Fell" is the name of a cheese made in

Longridge Longridge is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long ridge above the River Ribble. The nearest vi ...

from sheep's milk from the area.

Gallery

File:Parlick Fell (geograph 3344091).jpg, The summit of Parlick in 2009 Image:Parlick from Fair Snape Fell 7948.jpg, Looking down on Parlick, from the lower summit marker on Fair Snape Fell

References

Notes

{{Borough of Ribble Valley Hills of the Forest of Bowland Mountains and hills of Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Wyre Geography of Ribble Valley