Carrock Fell
| Carrock Fell | |
|---|---|
near the site of the Carrock mine |
|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 661 m (2,169 ft) |
| Prominence | 91 m (299 ft) |
| Parent peak | Knott |
| Listing | Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright |
| Coordinates | 54°41′37″N 3°01′23″W / 54.693561°N 3.023148°WCoordinates: 54°41′37″N 3°01′23″W / 54.693561°N 3.023148°W |
| Geography | |
 Carrock Fell
|
|
| Location | Cumbria, England |
| Parent range | Lake District, Northern Fells |
| OS grid | NY341336 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 90 OS Explorer 5 |
Carrock Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, situated in the northern region of the national park, 8 miles (13 kilometres) north-east of Keswick. The fell's name means "Rock Fell", from the Cumbric carrec, meaning a rock, and Old Norse fjall, meaning a fell.
The fell's elevation seems to have decreased by two metres in recent years. The Ordnance Survey now give it a height of 661 m (2,168 ft) in the most recent map updates after having recorded it at 663 metres for many years. Many guidebooks and mountain tables still record 663 metres as the “official” height.
Well known Lake District scribe Alfred Wainwright rated Carrock Fell as the second most exciting and interesting fell in the northern area of Lakeland (after Blencathra and before Skiddaw), it has special appeal regarding geology, mining and history and its rocky nature makes it stand out from the neighbouring fells which are mainly grassy and smooth. Carrock Fell is bounded to the south and east by the River Caldew into which all drainage from the fell goes to find its way eventually to the Solway Firth.
Carrock Fell’s geology is unique in the Lake District in that it is predominantly composed of Gabbro, a rough igneous rock that also makes up the famous Black Cuillin on the Isle of Skye. Gabbro is an excellent “clean” rock for climbers and Carrock Fell offers the only rock climbing of quality in the northern fells, the majority of which are made up of the unsuitable crumbly Skiddaw Slate. The fell is rich in mineral ores and has been mined extensively for many centuries with tungsten, lead, arsenic and iron all being extracted from the fell. The most famous mine on the fell was the Carrock Mine, the only source of tungsten in Britain outside of Devon and Cornwall. The mine was situated in Grainsgill Beck on the south western flanks of the fell with the main adit at a height of 340 metres. The mine was opened in 1854 but has only been worked in periods when the price of tungsten has been high, for example during wartime, the mine was worked extensively during both World Wars and the Korean War when supplies of Tungsten were threatened. The mine closed in the early 1980s and in 1988 the site was bulldozed and landscaped to its original outline.
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Wikipedia