# Whitbarrow

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Natural feature in Cumbria, England

Whitbarrow Whitbarrow from near Oversands School Highest point Elevation 215 m (705 ft) Prominence 182 m (597 ft) Parent peak High Street Listing Marilyn, Outlying Wainwright Coordinates 54°16′32″N 2°51′36″W / 54.27557°N 2.85996°W / 54.27557; -2.85996 Geography Whitbarrow Lake District, England OS grid SD441870 Topo map OS Landranger 97

**Whitbarrow** is a hill in [Cumbria](/source/Cumbria), England, designated a biological [Site of Special Scientific Interest](/source/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest)[1][2] and [national nature reserve](/source/National_nature_reserve_(United_Kingdom)), forming part of the [Morecambe Bay Pavements](/source/Morecambe_Bay_Pavements) [Special Area of Conservation](/source/Special_Area_of_Conservation) due to its supporting some of the best European examples of natural [limestone](/source/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](/source/Kendal), just north of the [A590 road](/source/A590_road), close to the village of [Witherslack](/source/Witherslack).[3] Part of the site is a [local nature reserve](/source/Local_nature_reserve) called Whitbarrow Scar.[4][5] Whitbarrow's summit, known as **Lord's Seat**, is at 215 metres (705 ft) and has a [prominence](/source/Topographic_prominence) of 182 metres (597 ft), classifying it as a [Marilyn](/source/List_of_Marilyns_in_the_British_Isles).[6]

It is a mixture of [woodland](/source/Woodland), [grassland](/source/Grassland) and [limestone pavement](/source/Limestone_pavement). The hill is prominent from the A590 road with its steep limestone cliffs, laid down in the [Carboniferous](/source/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](/source/Morecambe_Bay), including [Hutton Roof Crags](/source/Hutton_Roof_Crags)) has been formed.

Whitbarrow, like most of the [Lake District](/source/Lake_District), shows many signs of the last [ice age](/source/Ice_age), including [glacial erratics](/source/Glacial_erratic) (boulders left behind when the ice retreated), and the [limestone pavement](/source/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](/source/Millstone), 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](/source/Lake_District_National_Park_Authority) and the [Cumbria Wildlife Trust](/source/Cumbria_Wildlife_Trust).

Much of Whitbarrow is covered in woodland, initially naturally and from 1919 following planting; the [Forestry Commission](/source/Forestry_Commission) now holds leases on parts of the hill. A variety of techniques are used to manage the woodland, including [coppicing](/source/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](/source/List_of_Wainwrights#The_Outlying_Fells_of_Lakeland)* by [Alfred Wainwright](/source/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."[7]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Whitbarrow citation"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140808042136/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002151.pdf) (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from [the original](http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002151.pdf) (PDF) on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Map of Whitbarrow"](http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271002151%27). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Whitbarrow - Hervey Memorial Reserve"](http://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/whitbarrow-hervey-memorial-reserve). Retrieved 5 April 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Whitbarrow Scar"](http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/special/lnr/lnr_details.asp?C=0&N=whitbarrow&ID=1441). Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Map of Whitbarrow Scar"](http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=lnrIndex&query=REF_CODE%3D%271009237%27). Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 26 July 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Whitbarrow - Lord's Seat"](https://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails.php?qu=S&rf=2697). *Hill Bagging*. Retrieved 25 December 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Wainwright, A.](/source/Alfred_Wainwright) (1974). "Whitbarrow". *[The Outlying Fells of Lakeland](/source/The_Outlying_Fells_of_Lakeland)*. Kendal: Westmorland Gazette. pp. 36–41.

Cairn on Whitbarrow

Northerly panorama from Lord's Seat (the summit of Whitbarrow Scar), extending from [Old Man of Coniston](/source/Old_Man_of_Coniston) to the [Howgill Fells](/source/Howgill_Fells)

v t e Wainwright's The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Chapters named for single summits Beacon Fell Bigland Barrow Black Combe Blawith Knott Boat How Brant Fell Burney Caermote Hill Carron Crag Cartmel Fell Caw Claife Heights Clints Crags Cold Fell Dunmallet Dunnerdale Fells Faulds Brow Finsthwaite Heights Hampsfell Great Worm Crag Green Quarter Fell Gummer's How Hesk Fell Heughscar Hill High Knott Howes Hugill Fell Humphrey Head Irton Pike Knipescar Common Latterbarrow Muncaster Fell Newton Fell Orrest Head Ponsonby Fell Potter Fell Reston Scar School Knott Scout Scar Seat Robert Stainton Pike Staveley Fell Stickle Pike Top o'Selside Walna Scar Watch Hill Whitbarrow Whit Fell Woodland Fell Chapters named for circuits, groups and horseshoes Bannisdale Horseshoe Crookdale Horseshoe Devoke Water, Circuit of Flat Fell and Dent Naddle Horseshoe Wasdale Horseshoe Wet Sleddale Horseshoe Full list of Wainwrights by area

v t e Marilyns of Northern England 1. Northumberland The Cheviot Housedon Hill Long Crag Peel Fell Ros Hill Shillhope Law Sighty Crag Tosson Hill 2. Northern Lakeland Binsey Blencathra Knott Skiddaw 3. Western Lakeland Blake Fell Dale Head Dent Grasmoor Great Gable Grisedale Pike High Stile Kirk Fell Lord's Seat Low Fell Mellbreak Pillar Robinson Seatallan Swinside Watch Hill 4. Central and Southern Lakeland Black Combe Claife Heights Coniston Old Man Hard Knott Harter Fell High Raise High Rigg Holme Fell Illgill Head Kirkby Moor Lingmoor Fell Loughrigg Fell Muncaster Fell Pike of Blisco Scafell Pike Top o' Selside Whitfell 5. Eastern Lakeland Arnside Knott Fairfield Grayrigg Forest Great Mell Fell Gummer's How Hallin Fell Helvellyn High Street Hutton Roof Crags Lambrigg Fell Little Mell Fell Place Fell Red Screes St Sunday Crag Seat Sandal Stony Cove Pike Tarn Crag Wansfell Whitbarrow 6. North Pennines and Durham Burnhope Seat Cold Fell Cross Fell Dufton Pike Mickle Fell 7. Northern Yorkshire Dales Baugh Fell The Calf Great Shunner Fell Hoove Kisdon Nine Standards Rigg Rogan's Seat Wild Boar Fell Yarlside 8. Southern Yorkshire Dales Aye Gill Pike Birks Fell Buckden Pike Calf Top Cracoe Fell Dodd Fell Hill Fountains Fell Great Coum Great Knoutberry Hill Great Whernside Ingleborough Pen-y-ghent Rombald's Moor Sharp Haw Whernside 9. North York Moors to the Humber Bishop Wilton Wold Cringle Moor Gisborough Moor Urra Moor 10. Forest of Bowland Easington Fell Fair Snape Fell Longridge Fell Ward's Stone White Hill

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