# Howgill Fells > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Howgill_Fells > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Howgill_Fells.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howgill_Fells > Source revision: 1307497911 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Uplands in Northern England "Howgills" redirects here. For the Quaker meeting house in Hertfordshire, see [Howgills, Letchworth Garden City](/source/Howgills%2C_Letchworth_Garden_City). The **Howgill Fells** are [uplands](/source/Highland) in [Northern England](/source/Northern_England) between the [Lake District](/source/Lake_District) and the [Yorkshire Dales](/source/Yorkshire_Dales), lying roughly within a triangle formed by the town of [Sedbergh](/source/Sedbergh) and the villages of [Ravenstonedale](/source/Ravenstonedale) and [Tebay](/source/Tebay).[1] The name Howgill derives from the [Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) word *haugr* meaning a hill or barrow, plus *gil* meaning a narrow valley.[2] ## Geography The Howgill Fells are bounded by the [River Lune](/source/River_Lune) (and the [M6 motorway](/source/M6_motorway) to the west), to the north by upper reaches of the River Lune, and to the east by the [River Rawthey](/source/River_Rawthey).[3][4] The fells include two [Marilyns](/source/Marilyn_(hill)): [The Calf](/source/The_Calf) – 2,218 ft (676 m) and [Yarlside](/source/Yarlside) – 2,096 ft (639 m) and a number of smaller peaks, including five [Hewitts](/source/Hewitt_(hill)). Since 2017, the entire range has been included within the [Yorkshire Dales National Park](/source/Yorkshire_Dales_National_Park).[5] They lie within [Westmorland and Furness](/source/Westmorland_and_Furness) and are shared by the historic counties of [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire) ([West Riding](/source/West_Riding_of_Yorkshire)) and [Westmorland](/source/Westmorland).[6] Howgills panorama taken from the [A684](/source/A684_road) into [Sedbergh](/source/Sedbergh) from Kendal Panorama of Howgill Fells in evening from the hamlet of [Raisbeck](/source/Raisbeck) near [Orton](/source/Orton%2C_Eden) in the upper Lune valley ## Geology Unlike the [Carboniferous Limestone](/source/Carboniferous_Limestone) landscapes typical of much of the Yorkshire Dales and [Orton Fells](/source/Orton_Fells), the range is formed from lower [Palaeozoic](/source/Palaeozoic) slates and gritstones. An [inlier](/source/Inliers_and_outliers_(geology)) of [Ashgill](/source/Ashgill_(age)) age rocks of the Ordovician [Dent Group](/source/Dent_Group) in the vicinity of Backside Beck in the east [7] are the oldest rocks in the range whilst the oldest Silurian rocks are the laminated siltstones of the [Llandovery](/source/Llandovery_epoch) age [Stockdale Group](/source/Stockdale_Group). These are overlain by more than 250m thickness of dark grey mudstones and siltstones of the Brathay Formation which, with the overlying Coldwell and Wray Castle formations are collected together as the [Tranearth Group](/source/Tranearth_Group) and, in age terms, span the [Wenlock](/source/Wenlock_epoch) / [Ludlow](/source/Ludlow_epoch) boundary. The larger part of the range is formed from [sandstones](/source/Sandstone) of the [Coniston Group](/source/Coniston_Group). This unit is roughly 1000m thick; it includes a basal Screes Gill Formation up to 300m thick and also contains numerous siltstone bands. These are overlain by the sandstones, mudstones and siltstones of the Bannisdale and Kirkby Moor formations, collected together as the [Kendal Group](/source/Kendal_Group).[8] Structurally the bedrock is folded on a broad scale into a roughly east–west aligned Carlingill Anticline with the Castle Knotts Syncline to its south. Numerous smaller amplitude [folds](/source/Fold_(geology)) are developed on the limbs of these two folds. A series of normal faults aligned between N-S and NE-SW cut the range whilst its eastern and southeastern margin is defined by a combination of the Sedbergh, Rawthey and [Dent faults](/source/Dent_Fault). [Quaternary](/source/Quaternary) deposits include widespread glacial [till](/source/Till) in the valleys and on lower ground generally. Though the range was covered by the British ice-sheet during successive glaciations, Cautley Crag is the only well-developed glacial [cirque](/source/Cirque) within the Howgill Fells. Post-glacial [river sands and gravels](/source/Alluvium) are found on the floor of river valleys, notably on the margins of the range. [Peat](/source/Peat) is found on some hill spurs but is not widely developed whilst [scree](/source/Scree) is found in places, notably around the Cautley Spout area. Debris cones of cobbles are found, notably in Langdale and Bowderdale.[9][10] The Lune Gorge which defines the western edge of the Howgills is a major glacial [meltwater channel](/source/Meltwater_channel). ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-cum_1-0)** [The Howgill Fells in Cumbria](http://www.visitcumbria.com/peaks/howgills.htm) *www.visitcumbria.com* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Name Origin Research](http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Howgill) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Northern England, Graham Uney, Cicerone Press Limited, 2002, Chapter 19 "The Howgill Fells", p.160, [google books preview](https://books.google.com/books?id=A70xAw4Cc0gC&dq=Howgill+Fells&pg=PA160) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Marr, J. E.; Fearnsides, W. G. (1909). ["The Howgill Fells and their Topography"](https://archive.org/details/Marr1909Quarterlyjourna651909geol). *Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society*. **65** (1–4): 587–610. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1909QJGS...65..587M](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1909QJGS...65..587M). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1144/GSL.JGS.1909.065.01-04.34](https://doi.org/10.1144%2FGSL.JGS.1909.065.01-04.34). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [131021214](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:131021214). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Rushby, Kevin (31 July 2016). ["Bigger and better: the expanded Yorkshire Dales and Lake District national parks await"](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jul/31/lake-district-national-park-yorkshire-dales-food-pubs-walks). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 27 November 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Cumbria](http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk/cumbria.asp) *www.outofoblivion.org.uk* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [The Howgill Fells](http://www.yorkshire-dales.com/howgill-fells.html) *www.yorkshire-dales.com* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["GeoIndex Onshore"](http://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex/home.html). *British Geological Survey*. Retrieved 29 June 2020. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["England and Wales sheet 39 Kendal, Bedrock & Superficial Deposits"](http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1001521). *Maps Portal*. British Geological Survey. Retrieved 29 June 2020. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Kirkby Stephen, England and Wales sheet 40, Solid and Drift"](http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1001522). *Maps Portal*. British Geological Survey. Retrieved 29 June 2020. ### Further information - [The Southern Howgill Fells](https://web.archive.org/web/20101224015302/http://yorkshiredales.org.uk/lca_southern-howgills.pdf) *www.yorkshiredales.org.uk* [54°24′N 2°30′W / 54.4°N 2.5°W / 54.4; -2.5](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Howgill_Fells¶ms=54.4_N_2.5_W_type:mountain_dim:20000_region:GB-CMA) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Howgill Fells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howgill_Fells) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howgill_Fells?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.