Scout Scar, also called Underbarrow Scar, is a hill in the English

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 ...

, west of

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

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 ...

and above the village of Underbarrow. It reaches . Scout Scar is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book '' The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'', but the summit he describes is a lower summit at , 270m south of the highest point. Wainwright's anticlockwise recommended route also includes Cunswick Scar at . The higher summit of Scout Scar has a

topographic 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 109m and is thus classified as a

HuMP Hump, The Hump, or humping may refer to: Biological * Hump, the fleshy mass on the back of a camel containing its fat reservoir ** For other examples, see the list of animals with humps * Humping, slang for sexual intercourse ** Dry humping, a fo ...

, a hill with a prominence of at least 100m. Scout Scar and Cunswick Scar are both formed of Carboniferous Limestone and dip gently towards the east with a steep western scarp slope. At the lower, southern, summit there is a shelter, locally known as "The Mushroom". It was built in 1912 as a memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

, and restored in 1969 and again in 2003. The structure includes a

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 ...

indicating the

Central Fells The Central Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Reaching their highest point at High Raise (2,500 ft or 762 metres), they occupy a broad area to the east of Borrowdale. The Central Fells are gen ...

and other landmarks.

Accessible route

There is a car park in an old limestone quarry not far from the summit of Scout Scar. The Lake District National Park Authority includes a walk on Scout Scar in its "Miles without stiles" project for accessible routes, and describes it as "A short, steep walk to one of the best views across the entire southern lakes". This route, accessible for "robust pushchairs", leads from the car park to a viewpoint below the top of the scar.

Protection

Scout and Cunswick Scars have been designated 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 ...

for their flora and fauna. In 2005 they were included in a multi-site

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

Morecambe Bay Pavements Morecambe Bay Pavements is a multi-site Special Area of Conservation comprising limestone pavements around Morecambe Bay in North-West England. It was designated in 2005 under the Habitats Directive. The SAC does not include any marine areas; Mo ...

, which includes other limestone outcrops in Cumbria and Lancashire.

References

External links

* Fells of the Lake District Mountains and hills of the United Kingdom with toposcopes Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria {{Cumbria-geo-stub