The Howgills: The Less-Trodden Cumbrian Fells - on "Around-England"

There's another interesting Cumbria post at Around-England.co.uk. Here is a short extract along with a link to the full article.

" The Howgills are much less well known than many of the Cumbrian fells, and yet they"re more accessible than most, being close to the M6 motorway and the towns of Sedbergh and Kendal. Their western slopes are right alongside the motorway as it passes through the Lune Gorge between Junctions 37 and 38. ..."

The Howgills: The Less-Trodden Cumbrian Fells



The photograph here was taken looking west from the Sedbergh to Kirkby Stephen road at Cautley. It shows Cautley Spout in the distance as a dark gash in the snow-covered fellside. Cautley Spout is England"s highest cascade waterfall above ground, tumbling for 198 metres (650 feet). The stream then joins the River Rawthey, a tributary of the River Lune which flows down the western side of the Howgills range.

Alfred Wainwright and His Lake District Guides

Today's "Quick Note" is about a site that I've just launched about Alfred Wainwright and his Guides to the Lake District fells, the product of several decades of walking the high places of Lakeland.

At its heart it is very small, just a single page, although as time goes on its associated blog will build up more interesting content about both Wainwright himself and his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells.

Today it is the core page that we're concerned with, listing most of his Lake District related works plus a number of biographical titles and a selection of DVDs. As for the Guides themselves we list reprints of the original editions for their 50th anniversary, and also the 2nd Revised Edition which updates details of the routes whilst keeping the basic format.

So here it is: WainwrightGuides.co.uk

You can buy single volumes or boxed sets (three different types of boxed set). I hope you enjoy it.

Copper Mines in the Lake District

More than thirty years ago I read several books on the history and industrial archaeology of the Lake District and was amazed to learn that the wonderful scenery was far from "natural". Industries of many types over many centuries have shaped what we see today.

Recently I have begun to refresh my memory on all that study, and to take it further. The Coniston copper mines interested me especially at first, and then other copper mining areas such as the Newlands Valley and the Caldbeck fells.

Eventually I hope to write something more extensive but in the meantime have started to produce some short pieces about Lake District mining on my Around-England sites. An early one of these is: Copper Mines in the Lake District

I hope these will be interesting and helpful to people interested in the story of how we come to have the Cumbria Lake District as it is. Even in areas like the mountains around Ullswater, close to villages such as Glenridding ad Hartsop, there are miles upon miles of tunnels in the hillsides, in this case mainly from lead mining.

Brougham Castle, Penrith, Cumbria

Recently I've been visiting, photographing and writing about the castles owned by the 17th century Duchess of Pembroke, Lady Anne Clifford. Although Skipton Castle in West Yorkshire was her primary home, and today is still well-preserved, several of the others were in the Eden Valley in Cumbria just outside the Lake District boundary.

Pendragon Castle in Mallerstang, Brough Castle and Brougham Castle are all now in varying states of collapse and disrepair (although made safe for visitors) but in her day Lady Anne renovated them all. Appleby Castle is the best preserved of her major properties this part of the country.

Brougham Castle was her favourite, and it was there that she died (in her late 80s, a great age at that time). She was buried in Appleby church.

Several articles are on around-england.co.uk and in the meantime here is a picture of Brougham Castle by the River Eamont, a tributary of the Eden.

Dufton Pike in Late Evening Sun

A couple of days ago I posted on the Around-England blog a photo of Dufton Pike.   Tonight from the village of Brampton, near Appleby, using my phone because I had no camera with me, I took this photo of Dufton Pike against the backcloth of the North Pennines in the late evening sunlight.