Fell and Rock Club Journal, 9 ,344-351 (1933) (OCR followed by correcting/editing)

 

THE TWO THOUSAND FOOTERS

OF ENGLAND

 

By W. T. ELMSLIE

 

Some eight or ten years ago, having as I thought ascended most of the principal mountain summits in England, and being unable for geographical reasons to attempt a systematic onslaught upon the Munro Peaks of Scotland, I decided to make a list of all the points in England of two thousand feet and over, and to make an effort to reach them all. This delightful task having been completed by the ascent of High Willhays on October 20th, 1933, I am setting down a few impressions for the benefit of any others who may feel disposed to undertake something similar.

The first task was to decide what points should be included in the list; and I soon found out that it was necessary to use a uniform series of maps, and to lay down some hard and fast rules to determine the eligibility or otherwise of any given height. Here personal factors at once come in; but being concerned simply to make a list that would satisfy myself, I shall not be surprised if others take exception to my methods.

For maps I selected Bartholomew’s Half-Inch Contoured Maps; sufficiently good for ordinary tramping, yet not so detailed as to multiply unnecessarily the number of minor humps which might aspire to be included in the list.

I then adopted three rules, by which I judged the eligibility of summits to be included. (1) A height marked on the map by a cairn, above the two thousand foot contour, must be included. (2) A point marked on the map, with a height-figure of two thousand feet or more, must be included, whether a cairn was marked there or not. (3) Any point which was shown by the contours to rise above the two thousand foot line must be included, whether or not a cairn was marked or a definite height given.

These rules do not quite meet the case. On the one hand they include several points which are not true summits at all, notably Red Tarn on Helvellyn (!), two passes at the head of Weardale, and a number of cairned points in the Pennines not on the top of any hill. The personal factor must necessarily enter, when deciding which of these are worthy to be classed as “two thousand footers “; but I have included each one in my list, in order to be on the safe side.

On the other hand, these rules exclude a certain number of real summits; and it might be better to add a fourth rule that any point which is shown by the contours to be a summit, should be included also. In the Lake District there are a number of such points, rising independently above the 2,500, 2,750, and 3,000 foot contours. I have included these points in an appendix.

Including these points, we reach the following figures for the “two thousand footers of England”:

                 Above 2,000 feet                  347 points

                 Above 2,500 feet                  78 points

                 Above 3,000 feet                    7 points

From these must be subtracted an uncertain number of points which are not true summits, viz.

                 Lakes                                    1

                 Passes                                   2 or 3

                 Cairns                                  20—50

The Editor asks me to add a few personal notes with regard to these ascents. It is difficult to do so without being either too sketchy or too diffuse, but the notes that follow may perhaps be of some interest.

The most difficult summit in England to reach—in wet weather at all events—is the Cheviot, which is an island in a bog with only one practicable route across it! In order to reach the Cheviot peaks I had to make three one-day expeditions to the district from Middlesbrough, and to take advantage of an evening meeting in Alnwick to make yet another onslaught the following morning. On that occasion the weather was at its worst, in mid-winter; and I shall not soon forget my feelings when my unfitness caused a violent attack of cramp in both legs, whilst I was negotiating a lonely ridge by myself in thick mist and a driving snowstorm, miles from the nearest house. The Cheviots, like the Cairngorms, always give me a sense of bigness and spaciousness, which is not easily found elsewhere in Britain.

A parson takes his week-ends on a Monday, and then only at long intervals. During most of the period referred to in this article I was stationed near Middlesbrough, and did most of my tramping by driving up into the Pennine valleys, and bagging a peak or two each time. Once I succeeded in capturing no fewer than seventeen fresh summits, leaving the car at Grains o’ the Beck Inn. I was accompanied on that occasion by a strong young fellow from my congregation, who happened to be out of work at the time, and who had never previously been on a hill. He made the thrilling discovery, I remember, that grouse are not a species of rabbit ! I am afraid that before we had finished he had had quite enough of the Pennines; especially as during our penultimate descent he stepped into a small bog in which was the carcase of a sheep. He was almost up to the armpits in the filth and slime before I succeeded in extricating him; and I have seldom come across quite so pungent an odour as that which he exuded all the way home!

I have often wondered whether Bastifell and Nine Standards Rigg have not changed names; for the remarkable series of cairns that might well be the “ Nine Standards “ are on the summit of what the map calls Bastifell.

I shall not venture to make any comments upon the Lake District summits, for each one of them must be known to all the readers of the Journal; except to say that visits to some of the lesser-known peaks are well worth while, if only for the unusual views that they may give of the more familiar giants. It may interest some readers if I add that the last summit which I attained in the District, Tewit How, was reached from Gillerthwaite through a veritable meadow of white heather! I do not think that I have ever seen so much of it as we found there last August.

My most memorable ascent of Ingleborough was on the day of the total eclipse of the sun. Two of us camped below its northerly slopes, hoping to see the eclipse from the summit. As there were mists upon it, however, we watched the eclipse from near Ribblehead—a most impressive spot for such a spectacle; and went up the mountain afterwards.

Two of the summits on the Penyghent-Fountains Fell massive were climbed one memorable Midsummer Day. We were about to set out from Middlesbrough early in the afternoon, when we were begged to go to a village near Ripon to rescue a girl, who said she was being compelled by the farmer’s wife, in whose service she was, to sleep in a tree ! Having satisfied ourselves that the story had been invented to persuade her father to recall her home, we reached the point at which the car was to be left, shortly before 8 p.m. Our summits were completed by 11.30 p.m., when the by-road was so thick with rabbits that my passengers stood on the running boards grabbing them as we passed ! The sun had risen before we were back home again.

I travelled one day to the Snake Inn, to meet a friend who had similarly come north from Coventry. It was our intention to do some rock-climbing, but the weather was hopeless, and we determined instead to bag peaks. A gamekeeper at the inn proved most offensive, threatening us all manner of things because of our alleged intention to trespass. I am afraid that I could not set down in the pages of the Journal the language he used when we invited him to accompany us three or four miles along the right of way track, and then to see what we did. It seemed that he was not prepared to do that in such weather for anyone “in heaven or earth or under the earth.”

I had been bagging two thousand footers for some time before I discovered the Black Mountains on the map; and for a time the discovery threw me into despair. I had already expended gallons upon gallons of petrol on my task; but a journey to the borders of South Wales was too much to undertake. Fortune, however, favoured me. I was invited to take part in a Conference in Bristol. I promptly accepted the invitation; and took a night train to Abergavenny, to whose station master I had already written asking for a bicycle to be ready for me when I arrived in the wee sma’ hours. Everything went according to plan. A porter lent his bicycle. I rode up to Llanthony Abbey, and reached my first summit in bright weather. I had just time to survey the ground, when the mist came down, and enveloped me for the rest of the walk. As the ridges are somewhat featureless, and most of the summits cairnless, I was dependent entirely upon map, compass and watch; and was not a little relieved when I emerged into the valley again at exactly the right spot, and so knew that I had accomplished my task. That night I was in Bristol.

My Devonshire trip was similarly combined with duty, in this case a couple of spare days between engagements in London and in Bath. The area in which the two summits are situated is marked on the map “Danger Zone: Artillery Practice.” It was therefore a relief to learn that, in spite of the bitter wind and. cold at the time when I made the ascent, I should have been prevented from making it at all, had I visited the district in summer time. The completion of my whole enterprise was celebrated nobly in Devonshire cream

The hardest walking, by the way, was undoubtedly on those Pennines which are intersected by deep peat “crevasses.” If any readers of the Journal want exercise, let them try one of those summits on a day when each “ crevasse “ is filled with soft snow just level with its edge

Red Tarn was “ climbed “ by bathing in it on a summer’s day when mist and wind made me semi-numb before I had completed the stripping process. Half-an-hour later I met a shivering tourist on the summit of Helvellyn. “ Ugh ! “ he shuddered, as a break in the mists disclosed the tarn deep down below us, “how would you like to have a swim in that?” I am sorry to say that he clearly considered me an unqualified liar, when I informed him that I had just had one!

One of the problems which I set myself, when visiting the remote summits of the Pennines, each one of which possesses its own peculiar interest and character, was to discover whether there is any point in England from which both the North Sea and the Irish Sea are visible. I have not been able definitely to decide this question; almost always the atmosphere was hazy either to East or to West. I believe, however, that I saw the Solway, as I certainly saw the North Sea, from Windygate Hill in the Cheviots, and I believe that there may be other summits in the neighbourhood which would provide the double view. I am informed that it is not possible to see both seas from Cold Fell (it was hazy when I was there, in both directions), which otherwise looks a likely viewpoint. Further South, Pennines and Lake District interfere with each other’s view; but I think it not impossible that some summit about the head of Wensleydale might fulfil the conditions in very favourable weather.

The lists of summits follows, divided for convenience into districts.

 

List of summits Over 2000 feet in England, according to Bartholomews Half-inch Map.

 

Section 1.—DEVONSHIRE

      Yes Tor                                             2028

      High Willhays                                     2039

 

Section II.—BLACK MOUNTAINS

(i.) Black Hill                                                  2102

Black Mountain (Frontier)                  2143

Black Mountain (Frontier)                  2306

         Do.  do.  do.                                   2091

         Do.  do.                                          2010

(ii.) Fwddog Ridge (Frontier)                 2228

 

Section III.—THE PEAK

(i.) Kinder Low                                     2077

Anon                                                 2086

Anon                                                 2062

       Crowden Head                                  2070

Kinder Edge                                      2031

Fairbrook Naze                                 2049

  (ii.) Bleaklow Hill                                    2060

Shelf Moss                                        2061

Higher Shelf Stones                           2099

 

Section IV.—SOUTH OF WENSLEYDALE-DENTDALE

(i) Great Whernside 2310

        Do. do                                             2187

        Do. do                                             2245

        Do. do                                             2000

     Buckden Pike                                      2302

     Tor Mere Top                                     2023

(ii.) Yockenthwaite Moor 2109

     Wether Fell                                         2015

     Dodd Fell                                            2189

     Widdale Fell                                        2203

(iii.) Fountains Fell                                    2191

    Darnbrook Fell                                     2048

    Pen-y-ghent                                         2273

        Do                                                   2231

    Birks Fell                                             2001

iv.) Ingleborough                                      2373

    Simon Fell                                            2088

(v.) Whernside                                         2414

(vi.) Crag Hill                                           2239

        Do                                                   2250

    Foul Moss                                            2052

    Greygarth Hill                                       -

 

Section V.—CALF AND SWALEDALE

(From Section IV. to Stainmore Darlinglon Tebay Line.)

(i.) Lovely Seat         2213

     Great Shunner Fell                               2340

     Ure Head                                            2186

     Black Fell Moss                                  2257

     High Seat                                            2328

     Fair Hill                                               2105

     Nine Standards Rigg                            2008

     Bastifell                                               2024

(ii.) Rogan’s Seat                                      2204

     Water Crag                                         2188

        Do,                                                  2176

(iii.) Wild Boar Fell                                   2324

     Swarth Fell                                          2235

     Baugh Fell                                           2216

(iv.) The Calf                                            2220

     Lt. Pikcd how                                      2150

     Wind Scarth                                        2000

     Fell head                                             2045

     Yarlside                                               2097

     Anon                                                   2047

 

Section Vl.---STAINMORE TO PENRITII-ALSTON-TEESDALE

(i.) Warcop Fell                                        2106

       Do                                               2028

    Do                                                  2042

Long Fell                                             -

   Do                                                   -

   Do                                                   -

Burton Fell                                          2399

   Do                                                   2123

   Do                                                   2096

Hilton Fell                                            2446

   Do                                                   2146

   Do                                                   2252

Mickle Fell                                          2591

   Do                                                   2547

   Do                                                   2486

   Do                                                   2247

Long Crag                                           2209

Lang Hurst                                          2085

Bink Moss                                           2028

Murton Fell                                         2207

   Do                                                   2061

   Do                                                   2206

(ii.) Narrowgate Beacon                           2151

Backstone Edge                                  2262

Do.         do                                          2053

 Do. do                                                2221

Anon                                                    2292

Anon                                                    2120

High Scald Fell                                     2256

Knock Fell                                           2604

   Do                                                    2532

Dufton Fell                                           2403

   Do. (Ruins)                                       -

   Do                                                    2213

   Do                                                    2303

   Do                                                    2284

   Do                                                    2291

   Do                                                    2104

   Do                                                    2137

   Do                                                    2116

Green Castle                                        2466

Anon                                                    2478

Anon                                                    2108

Iron Howe                                           2010

Milburn Forest                                     2780

   Do. do                                              2761

   Hard Hill                                           2225

(iii.) Cross Fell                                          2930

     Do                                                  2893

     Do                                                  2799

Grey Scar                                            2378

Black Dub                                            2687

Fallow Hill                                            2583

Lambgreen Hills                                   2280

Bullman Hills                                        2002

Rake End                                             2283

Anon                                                    2026

Long Man Hill                                      2150

Pikeman Hill                                         2022

Calvert End                                          2196

Calvertfold                                           2249

Anon                                                    2074

Round Hill                                            2222

   Do                                                    2054

(iv.) Skirwith Fell                                       2562

Green Fell                                            2429

   Do                                                    2362

Brown Hill                                            2185

Melmcrby Fell                                      2331

Hard Rig Edge                                     2056

Knapside Bill                                        2247

Little Knapsidc Hill                               2153

   Do. do                                              2107

Fiends Fell                                           2082

 

Section VII. —TEESDALE TO WEARDALE

  (i) Outberry Plain                                   2143

Westernhope Moor                            2215

   Do.    do.                                        2115

Newbiggin Common                           2099

(ii.) Dora’s Seat                                        2158

Langdon Common                             2072

Fendrith Hill                                       2284

Chapel Fell Top                                 2294

Langdon Fell                                      2042

   Do.                                                 2056

   Do.                                                 2079

Noon Hill                                           2072

(iii.) Three Pikes                                       2133

Causeway Hill                                    2072

   Do. do.                                           2212

   Do. do.                                           2001

Ashgill Head                                       2274

  Do.  do.                                           2342

Burnhope Seat                                   2452

   Do. do.                                           2368

Dead Stones                                      2326

Nag’s Head                                       2207

Lamb’s Head                                     2127

Moss Moor                                        2096

Knoulberry Hill                                   2195

Cowhorse Hill                                    2036

   “Road Summit”                                  2056

Windy Brow                                      2015

Flinty Fell                                           2013

(iv.) Herdship Fell                                     2070

      Viewing Hill                                       2097

      Bellbeaver Rigg                                 2035

 

Section VIII.—WEARDALE TO TYNEDALE

   (i.) Wellhope Moor         2014

  (ii.) Slate Hill                                          2113

       Killhope Moor                                  2116

       Middlehope Moor                             2206

          Do.   do                                         2051

          Do.   do                                         2018

          Do.   do                                         2075

 

Section IX.—NORTHERN PENNINES

  (i.) Hartside Height                                 2046

       Black Fell                                          2149

          Do                                                 2179

       Anon                                                 2071

       Middle Carrick                                  2154

(ii.)  Cold Fell                                           2039

 

Section X.—LAKE DISTRICT: EAST OF KIRKSTONE

  (i)  Grey Crag                                         2093

       Harrop Pike                                       -

       Tarn Crag                                          2176

          Do.                                                2118

      Selside Pike                                       -

      Anon.                                                2333

      Adam Seat 2180

      Raven Crag                                        2397

      Harter Fell                                          2509

 (ii.) Rainsborrow Crag                             2292

      Ill Bell                                                2476

      Froswick                                            2359

      Anon.                                                 2183

      Grays Crag                                        2286

      High Street                                         2663

       Rough Crag                                       2062

       Kidsty Pike                                       2560

       Rest Dodd                                        2278

       High Raise       .                                 2634

          Do.                                                2465

          Do.                                                2358

       Low Rise                                          2191

       Red Crag                                          2328

       High Kop                                          2179

       Weather Hill                                      2174

       Loadpot Hill                                      2201

          Do.                                                2144

       Hart Hill                                            2057

(iii.) Place Fell                                          2154

(iv.) Stony Cove                                       -

      John Bell’s Banner                              2502

      Low Hartsop Dod                              -

      Hart Crag                                           2072

 

Section XI.-—LAKE DISTRICT KIRKSTONE TO KESWICK

(i.) Red Screes                                         2541

     Raven Crag                                         -

     Snarker Pike                                       2096

     Middle Dod                                         2106

     Little Hart Crag                                   2091

     Anon.                                                  2155

     Hart Crag                                            2698

     Heron Pike                                          2003

     Fairfield                                               2863

     St. Sunday Crag                                  2756

        Do.   do                                           2040

(ii.) Seat Sandal                                        2415

      Dollywaggon Pike                              2810

      Whelpside                                          2412

      Helvellyn                                            3118

         Do                                                  3033

       Browncove Crags..                           Above 2500

      Glenridding Common 2318

      White Side                                         2832

      Raise                                                 2889

       Black Crag                                        -

      Stybarrow Dodd                                2756

Hartside                                             2481

Watson’s Dodd                                 2584

Great Dodd                                       2807

Calfhow Pike                                     -

Clough Head                                      2380

Red Tarn                                           2356

(iii.) Saddleback                                       2847

       Mungrisdale Common                       2038

Bowscale Fell                                    2306

(iv.) Carrock Fell                                      2174

       High Pike                                          2157

       Great Lingy Hill                                 -

          Do.   do                                         2000

Coomb Height                                   2058

  Knott                                                2329

       Great Calva                                       2287

          Do                                                 2014

(v.) Dead Crags                                       2189

       Skiddaw                                           3054

Low Man                                          2837

       Carl Side                                           2400

Lonscale Fell                                     2344

 

Section Xll.—LAKE DISTRICT WEST OF DUNMAIL RISE

(i.)   Grisedale Pike                                   2593

      Anon.                                                2010

      Hobcarton Pike                                  2525

Whiteside                                           2317

      Grasmoor                                          2791

      Eel Crag                                            2749

   Do.                                                 2649

      Anon.                                                2533

      Whiteless Pike                                   2159

Sail                                                    2500

Causey Pike                                       -

       Robinson                                           2417

       Hindscarth                                         2385

Dale Head                                         2473

       Scawdale Fell                                    2143

(ii.) Great Borne                                       2019

   Do.                                                -

       Starling Dodd                                    2085

       Red Pike                                           2479

High Stile                                          2643

High Crag                                         2443

(iii.) Fleetwith Pike                                    2126

       Grey Knotts                                      2287

       Brandreth                                          2344

       Base Brown                                      -

       Great Gable                                      2949

       Kirk Fell                                           2631

(iv.) Looking Stead                                   2058

       Pillar                                                 2927

       Steeple                                              2687

       Scoat Fell                                          2746

       Red Pike                                           2629

       Yewbarrow                                       2058

       Tewit How                                        2012

       Haycock                                           2619

       Seatallan                                           2266

       Caw Fell                                           2188

       Iron Crag                                          2071

(v.) Slight Side                                         2501

       Sca Fell                                             3162

       Scafell Pike                                       3210

       Lingmell                                            2649

          Do                                                 2104

       Great End                                         2984

       Seathwaite Fell        -

       Allen Crags                                       2572

       Glaramara                                         2560

       Rosthwaitc Felt        -

       Bowfell                                             2960

       Rossett Crag                                     2106

       Crinkle Crags                                    2818

       Red How                                          2426

       Cold Pike                                          2259

       Pike of Blisco                                    2304

       Harter Fell                                         2140

(vi.) Harrison Stickle                                 2401

       Pike of Stickle  2323

       Thunacar Knott                                 2351

       Sergeant Man                                    2414

       High White Stones                             2500

       Greenup Edge                                   2081

       Ullscarf                                             2370

 (vii.) Wetherlam                                       2502

   Carrs                                                 2575

   Grey Friar                                          2537

   Great How Crags                              2630

Old Man                                            2633

   Do.                                                 2611

Dow Crag                                         2555

Brown Pike                                       2239

Walney Scar                                      -

 

Section XIII .—CHEVIOTS

 (i.) Windygate Hill                                   2034

   Bloodybush Edge                               2001

Cushat Law                                       2020

(ii.) The Cheviot                                       2676

          Do.                                                 2656

          Do.                                                 2547

       West Hill                                           2353

       Auchopecairn (Frontier)                     2382

          Do                  do.                           2419

       Cairn Hill                                           2545

       Comb Fell 2132

       Hedgehope Hill                                  2348

 

Sumits included under Rule 4 :—

            Section X.

Thornthwaite Crag                                Above 2500

 

              Section Xl.

Dove Crag                                           Above 2500

Great Rigg                                            Above 2500

 

            Section XII.

Green Gable                                         Above 2500

Kirkfell (N.E. Top)                               Above 2500

Broad Crag                                          Above 3000

Ill Crag                                            Above 3000

Esk Pike                                               Above 2750

Glamamara (S. Top)                             Above 2500