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Whitbarrow

Fells of the Lake DistrictLocal nature reserves in CumbriaMarilyns of EnglandNational nature reserves in EnglandNature reserves of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria
Whitbarrow from near Witherslack School
Whitbarrow from near Witherslack School

Whitbarrow is a hill in Cumbria, England, designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve, forming part of the Morecambe Bay Pavements Special Area of Conservation due to its supporting some of the best European examples of natural limestone habitats. Also known as Whitbarrow Scar (though properly that term applies to the cliffs lining its western edge), the hill lies about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) southwest of Kendal, just north of the A590 road, close to the village of Witherslack. Part of the site is a local nature reserve called Whitbarrow Scar. Whitbarrow's summit, known as Lord's Seat, is at 215 metres (705 ft) and has a prominence of 182 metres (597 ft), classifying it as a Marilyn.It is a mixture of woodland, grassland and limestone pavement. The hill is prominent from the A590 road with its steep limestone cliffs, laid down in the Carboniferous period some 350 million years ago. The main cliff faces are made up of rocks known as Dalton Beds, above which are Urswick Limestones, of which the limestone pavement (here and elsewhere around Morecambe Bay, including Hutton Roof Crags) has been formed. Whitbarrow, like most of the Lake District, shows many signs of the last ice age, including glacial erratics (boulders left behind when the ice retreated), and the limestone pavement itself, formed when ice left bare limestone exposed to the elements which eroded it and left us with the grikes and clints we see today. The limestone has been used for many purposes including building, agricultural fertiliser, and production of millstones, but is now protected by law and it is an offence to remove any. Whitbarrow NNR is owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, Lake District National Park Authority and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Much of Whitbarrow is covered in woodland, initially naturally and from 1919 following planting; the Forestry Commission now holds leases on parts of the hill. A variety of techniques are used to manage the woodland, including coppicing; the variety of methods adds to the range of wildlife resulting. A 6.5-mile (10.5 km) anticlockwise walk to Whitbarrow's summit, Lord's Seat, from Witherslack, returning along the valley to the west, forms a chapter in The Outlying Fells of Lakeland by Alfred Wainwright. He describes it as "the most beautiful [walk] in this book; beautiful it is every step of the way. ... All is fair to the eye on Whitbarrow."

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Whitbarrow (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 54.27557 ° E -2.85996 °
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Crosthwaite and Lyth


, Crosthwaite and Lyth
England, United Kingdom
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Whitbarrow from near Witherslack School
Whitbarrow from near Witherslack School
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Nearby Places

Cartmel Fell
Cartmel Fell

Cartmel Fell is a hamlet and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 309, increasing at the 2011 census to 329. The village of Cartmel and Cartmel Priory are not in this parish but in Lower Allithwaite, to the south: Cartmel Fell church is about 7 miles north of Cartmel Priory. The neighbouring civil parishes are Windermere parish to the north west, where the boundary includes some of the shore line of the lake, Windermere; Crook to the north east; Crosthwaite and Lyth to the east; Witherslack to the south east; Lindale and Newton-in-Cartmel to the south; and Staveley-in-Cartmel to the south west. St. Anthony's Church was built as a chapel of ease for Cartmel Priory in about 1504, and has changed little since. It contains some 17th-century box pews and a rare three-decker pulpit of 1698 as well as stained glass which may have come from Cartmel Priory.There was a school next to St Anthony's Church that opened in 1871 and closed in 1971. The building is now the parish hall. There are 34 listed buildings in the parish. The church and two 1890s houses by C.F.A. Voysey (Broadleys and Moor Crag) are Grade I listed; Hodge Hill is Grade II* and the remaining houses, barns, bridge etc. are Grade II.A mile to the north-east, the Grade II* listed Cowmire Hall (in the parish of Crosthwaite and Lyth) incorporates a 16th-century pele tower, whilst the main block of the house dates from the 17th century. Also of note is Chapel House, Ravensbarrow Lodge, and Danes Court Cottage.Cartmel Fell is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. Wainwright names as Cartmel Fell the "elevated tangle of bracken and coppice forming [the Winster Valley]'s western flanks", and describes a walk from the church to the summit Raven's Barrow at 500 feet (150 m), which he calls "a lovely belvedere for viewing a lovely valley". He says that the cairn is locally known as Ravensbarrow or Rainsbarrow Old Man. To the northwest is Heights Tarn, a small lake on private land.