Graystones

Graystones
Seen from the Whinlatter Pass road at Spout Force car park.
Highest point
Elevation	456 m (1,496 ft)
Prominence	c. 80 m
Listing	Wainwright
Coordinates	54°37′37″N 3°16′30″W / 54.627°N 3.275°W / 54.627; -3.275Coordinates: 54°37′37″N 3°16′30″W / 54.627°N 3.275°W / 54.627; -3.275
Geography
Graystones Location in Lake District, UK
Location	Cumbria, England
Parent range	Lake District, North Western Fells
OS grid	NY177266
Topo map	OS Landranger 89, 90, Explorer OL4

Graystones is a fell in the English Lake District. It lies in the North Western Fells region and is one of the peaks on the ridge which encircles the valley of Aiken Beck.

According to Alfred Wainwright the name Graystones properly refers only to the summit, but he then chose to apply it to the whole fell in his influential Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. Wainwright stated that the hill is correctly known as Kirk Fell, not to be confused with Kirk Fell in Wasdale. Some guidebooks however take Graystones to be the eastern summit and Kirk Fell the western top at 1,437 ft. This view is reinforced by the placing of the names on the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 series map.

The North Western Fells occupy the area between the rivers Derwent and Cocker, a broadly oval swathe of hilly country, elongated on a north-south axis. Two roads cross from east to west, dividing the fells into three convenient groups. The most northerly sector, rising between Whinlatter Pass and the Vale of Embleton, includes Graystones.

The highest ground in this northern sector lies on a ridge running from the Vale of Lorton in the west to the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake in the east. In this direction the fells on the ridge are Graystones, Broom Fell, Lord's Seat and Barf. Whinlatter is an outlier to the south.

Gentle grassy slopes rise up from the wide Vale of Lorton to the western (Kirk Fell) top. A little to the east across a slight depression is Graystones summit. The ridge then narrows to cross the long saddle of Widow Hause en route for Broom Fell. To the south of the fell are Blaze Beck and its tributary, Aiken Beck. These are joined by Sware Gill, a small stream running down from the col between Kirk Fell and Graystones. The south eastern slopes of the fell and the entire southern flank of Widow Hause are dressed with the conifers of the Darling How Plantation. Deep within the woods is Spout Force, a fine waterfall on Aiken Beck.