Blake Fell

Blake Fell
Blake Fell seen over the reservoir of Cogra Moss.
Highest point
Elevation	573 m (1,880 ft)
Prominence	c. 164 m
Parent peak	High Stile
Listing	Marilyn, Wainwright
Coordinates	54°33′50″N 3°22′41″W / 54.56377°N 3.37793°W / 54.56377; -3.37793Coordinates: 54°33′50″N 3°22′41″W / 54.56377°N 3.37793°W / 54.56377; -3.37793
Naming
Translation	(possibly Black Fell) (Old English)
Geography
Blake Fell Location in the Lake District
Location	Cumbria, England
Parent range	Lake District, Western Fells
OS grid	NY110196
Topo map	OS Landranger 89, 90, Explorer OL4

Blake Fell is a hill in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is the highest point of the Loweswater Fells, an area of low grassy hills with steep sides overlooking the lake of Loweswater. The fell also overlooks the village of Loweswater, from which it can be climbed. An alternative route is from the Cogra Moss reservoir on its western slopes. Because the Loweswater Fells are a separate geographical unit, Blake Fell is a Marilyn. It is located in the Parish of Lamplugh.

The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Blake Fell and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm.

The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village. From the west these are Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell, Hen Comb and Mellbreak, the "thumb".

Blake Fell is the highest hill in this group, the summit area being a long ridge running southwest along the "finger". This begins above the shore of Loweswater, rising steeply through the mixed forestry of Holme Wood to the craggy height of Loweswater End. Atop the rise is Carling Knott (1,784 ft), the north eastern summit. The ridge then dips slightly, the landscape changing from rock outcrop to grass, before the final ascent to Blake Fell. A transverse ridge now connects northwards to Burnbank Fell, in truth an outlier of Blake Fell, but given separate status by Alfred Wainwright in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. Southward is the narrow grassy col of Fothergill Head, providing a much more tenuous link to Gavel Fell. The western slopes are heavily wooded with conifers and contoured by forest roads.