Watson's Dodd
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Watson's Dodd is a
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 ...
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 ...
, a minor rise on the main ridge of the
Helvellyn range The Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, "fell" being the local word for "hill". The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest summit of the group. The Helvellyn range forms a ridge exte ...
in the
Eastern Fells The Eastern Fells are a part of the Cumbrian Mountains in the Lake District of England. Centred on Helvellyn they primarily comprise a north–south ridge running between Ullswater and Lakeland's Central Valley. Partition of the Lakeland fells ...
, but a prominent shoulder on the west side of that range. At its foot is the imposing crag of Castle Rock, on which rock climbers have developed some 60 named routes.


Topography

Seen from the west, Watson's Dodd is a noticeable shoulder on the Helvellyn ridge, north of Sticks Pass. The summit stands on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range at the point where the south-west ridge of
Great Dodd Great Dodd (meaning: ''big round hill'') is a mountain or fell in the England, English Lake District. It stands on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range, a line of mountains which runs in a north–south direction between the lakes of Thirlmere ...
and the north-west ridge of
Stybarrow Dodd Stybarrow Dodd (''the hill of the steep path'') is a mountain or fell in the England, English Lake District. It stands immediately north of Sticks Pass on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, which is situated between the ...
meet and merge. From this point a shoulder drops into the valley of the How Beck at Legburthwaite. This shoulder, part of the High Fells of St John's Common, is sharply defined by the deep valleys of Mill Gill to its north and Stanah Gill to its south. It slopes gently to around the 500 m contour, and then drops more steeply into the valley over a number of rocky crags. Just before reaching the valley, part of this shoulder rises again to the high, precipitous crag known as Castle Rock.Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map On the eastern side of the ridge the deep valley of Browndale Beck separates Great Dodd from Stybarrow Dodd, so that Watson's Dodd has no eastern flanks at all other than its triangular summit plateau. The highest point on Watson's Dodd has an elevation of , a prominence of only above the slight depression separating it from Stybarrow Dodd. Watson's Dodd stands on the main
watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
between the Derwent river system to the west, and
Ullswater Ullswater is a glacial lake in Cumbria, England and part of the Lake District National Park. It is the second largest lake in the region by both area and volume, after Windermere. The lake is about long, wide, and has a maximum depth of . I ...
(and the Eden river system) to the east. Streams on the west are now captured by a water leat and diverted into
Thirlmere Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district in Cumbria and the English Lake District National Park, Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a numbe ...
reservoir.


Castle Rock

Standing at the top of the Vale of St John's, the nearly vertical Castle Rock juts out from the hillside with rock faces on three sides. The castle-like profile is made still more picturesque by a garland of mixed woodland around the lower slopes. This rock has attracted the admiring views of visitors since the start of tourism to the Lakes. Thomas West in 1778 referred to the valley ‘nobly terminated by the castle-like rock of St. John’.
Jonathan Otley Jonathan Otley (1766-1856) was a self-taught English geologist whose detailed observations in the English Lake District set the foundations for the study of that area's geology. Early life Otley was born on 19 January 1766 at Nook House (also ...
in 1823 knew the rock as ‘the massive rock of Green Crag, sometimes called the Castle Rock of St. John's’. The Scottish lawyer and novelist
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
, wrote his romantic narrative-poem '' The Bridal of Triermain'' in 1812. In this, Castle Rock appears as the setting for the Enchanted Castle from which the hero, Sir Roland de Vaux of Triermain, must rescue the maiden, Gyneth. Triermain was the name of a
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
dom in the
barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of Gilsland in north-east
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
; a pele-tower near Birdoswald still bears the name. The association with Walter Scott's poem has sometimes led Castle Rock to be called Castle Rock of Triermain, especially by rock climbers in order to distinguish it from another Castle Rock in Gloucestershire. Climbers have discovered and named over 60 routes up the rock. The precipitous North Crag ( high) was first climbed by Jim Birkett on
April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...
, 1939, by a route called ''Overhanging Bastion''. Since 2011 the North Crag has been considered dangerous because a large crack has opened up at the top creating the potential for a massive rockfall. South Crag (} high) is less steep, sunnier and quicker-drying, and holds the less difficult routes. The summit of Castle Rock has an elevation of , with a prominence of from the fellside behind it.


Summit

The summit of Watson's Dodd is a grassy triangular plateau which slopes gently to the east and is bounded by paths on all three sides. Its highest point, at the western apex of the triangle, is marked by a small
cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
. The view from the summit is ‘sumptuous’. Standing to the west of the main ridge, the summit gives a panoramic view from Blencathra and Skiddaw in the north, round to the Coniston group in the south. The view extends over Thirlmere to 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 is bounded by the
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
and northwestern fells. On a clear day the hills of south-west Scotland are also visible.


Ascents

Routes to the top begin from the B5322 road, where parking is available at Legburthwaite or at Stanah village hall. There are no marked paths up the fellside. Keeping to the crest of the ridge (after avoiding the initial rocky crags, or after visiting Castle Rock if wished) leads unfailingly to the summit cairn. The summit may also be visited by following the well-used paths along the main Helvellyn ridge, though many ridge walkers appear to bypass the summit.


Geology

The rocks of Watson's Dodd are all part of the
Borrowdale Volcanic Group The Borrowdale Volcanic Group is a group of igneous rock formations named after the Borrowdale area of the Lake District, in England. They are Caradocian (late Ordovician) in age (roughly 450 million years old). It is thought that they represen ...
, formed on the margin of an ancient continent during a period of intense volcanic activity, roughly 450 million years ago in the
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 ...
Period. Within that
group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...
, the bulk of the rocks forming the fell belong to the Birker Fell Andesite Formation. These rocks are among the earliest of the volcanic rocks of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, and are part of a thick succession of
andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
sheets which now outcrop in a wide band around the western and northern sides of the Lake District. - may be viewed on the or on the BGS's iGeology smartphone app These sheets were formed by successive eruptions of mobile andesitic lava from shallow-sided volcanoes. Between the individual lava flows may be beds of
volcaniclastic Volcaniclastics are geologic materials composed of broken fragments (clasts) of volcanic rock. These encompass all clastic volcanic materials, regardless of what process fragmented the rock, how it was subsequently transported, what environment it ...
sandstone, sedimentary deposits formed from the erosion of the volcanic rocks. The geological map shows small deposits of this on the fellside, as well as some
lapilli tuff Lapilli (: lapillus) is a size classification of tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. ''Lapilli'' is Latin for "little stones". By definition lapilli range from in diam ...
resulting from a more explosive eruption. After the eruptions of the Birker Fell Formation the composition of the erupting magma changed from andesitic to
dacitic Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...
, and as a result the nature of the volcanism became more explosive. In the area to the north of Sticks Pass the Birker Fell andesites are overlain by the Lincomb Tarns Tuff Formation. This formation is one of the most widespread of the volcanic rocks of the Lake District; it seems that the whole district was buried beneath at least 150 m of densely welded
ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surrou ...
, a rock formed from
pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
s of very hot gas and rock. This formation must represent a series of eruptions of truly exceptional magnitude, accompanying the formation of a volcanic
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...
, probably in the area around where Helvellyn stands today. On Watson's Dodd this formation is represented by two
members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
. The Tarn Crags Member makes up Castle Rock, as well as a thin layer higher up the fellside at about the 650 m contour. It is a coarse-grained dacitic lapilli tuff. Above this thin layer are rocks of the Thirlmere Tuff Member, which covers the top of the fell. First is an area of volcaniclastic breccia, which forms a series of small rocky outcrops on the fellside, and above this is a thick sheet of welded rhyo-dacitic lapilli tuff in which the individual pieces of semi-molten lava (the
lapilli Lapilli (: lapillus) is a size classification of tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption or during some meteorite impacts. ''Lapilli'' is Latin for "little stones". By definition lapilli range from in dia ...
) were flattened under the weight of deposits above them. This rock weathers to a white or pink colour, but it is covered by the smooth grassy turf characteristic of Great Dodd, Watson's Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd, all of which are covered by the same sheet.


Names

Watson's Dodd. Dod or dodd is a dialect word of unknown origin, but is common in hill names in the Lake District and the Scottish Borders for bare rounded summits, either free standing or subsidiary shoulders to higher neighbours. The Watson whose name this fell commemorates is unknown. There may (or may not) be a connection with Watson's Park in the same parish of St John's. If so, since that name is first recorded in 1734, Watson must have lived no later than the early eighteenth century.


Image gallery

Image:Castle Crag and Watson's Dodd.JPG, Castle Crag, with North Crag in the centre and South Crag to the right of the trees Image:Water leat below Watson's Dodd.JPG, The water leat below Watson's Dodd Image:Watson's Dodd, from Stybarrow Dodd.JPG, Watson's Dodd seen from Stybarrow Dodd. The slight col is to the far right. Image:View from Watson's Dodd.JPG, View towards the northwestern fells from Watson's Dodd Image:Keswick From Watson's Dodd - geograph.org.uk - 1100581.jpg, View towards Keswick and Bassenthwaite Lake from Watson's Dodd


References

{{Eastern Fells Fells of the Lake District