Gorse To 2m Feb-May

North easterly view from Winder

Look for meadow pipits gliding down onto the sides of the fells.

Tormentil Low creeper on the fells

Main Street, Sedbergh

A fairly easy fell walk with superb panoramic views.

Starting at the Norman church of a Yorkshire Dales Book Town, you will pass an ancient motte and bailey castle before making the

gradual ascent of Crook and Winder in the wild foothills of the Howgill Fells.

3. (SD 653 932) Continue in a straight line from the Millennium Cairn and white trig. point to descend the fell in a westerly direction. Ignore a path off to the right, but take the next path on your left which you follow to Lockbank Farm and the road. If the ground is too boggy at the start of this path, continue down the main track until you reach a wall. Take the gate that is situated below a seat, and follow the good track down to the road. Turn left along the road and continue to the Dalesman Inn on Main Street. Turn left to pass St. Andrew’s Church, then right to return to the car park.

The best walk from Sedbergh

Map: Ordnance Survey OL19 Total Climb: 410 metres 1,590 feet Average Time: 3 hours Distance: 7.5 kilometres 4.7 miles Enjoy your walk, but for your own safety, please: Ensure you have a reasonable level of fitness. Choose a clear day with good visibility. Take an OS map and compass for additional reference. Wear strong boots and protective clothing. Keep to the footpaths, but avoid disturbing livestock or crops.

Sedbergh / Dentdale Area

Ashbeck Gill

Settlebeck Gill

Castlehaw The site of an ancient motte and bailey castle, built to repel Scottish marauders.

Meadow pipit 14.5cm

The Trig. Point and Millennium Cairn on Winder Summit The Millennium Cairn Toposcope shows details of the wonderful panoramic views that stretch towards the Lake District mountains, Shap Fells, Yorkshire Dales and Morecambe Bay.

473m (1,551 ft.)

Highfield Villas Built in 1883, these are the oldest surviving buildings in Cumbria to be built from shuttered concrete. This new quick-setting cement would have been poured into wooden shuttering. When dry, the shuttering would be removed and the cement painted.

St. Andrew’s Church Dates from about 1130, but there was major restoration work in 1886 by the architects, Austin and Paley.

Meadow vetchling 65-80cm May-Aug.

Curlew 52-58cm

Buzzard Wingspan 115—130cm

Wild Boar Fell Crook

Settlebeck Gill

Foxglove To 1.5m Jun-Sept.

£1.00

Sedbergh Joan Bryden

Tufted vetch To 2m Jun-Aug.

This walk was written in good faith, but please be aware that rights of way, signposts, buildings etc may be changed. There might be unfenced steep drops, and after heavy rain, becks can be impassable, paths boggy and rocks very slippery. No outdoor walking is without risk. You are solely responsible for your own safety and that of your family. Please ensure children don’t take any risks in order to tick a box.

Wild Card Discovery Walks © Joan Bryden 2009 Latest revision 2012 All rights reserved Published by Joan Bryden, 2 Rural Workshops, Burrow, Carnforth, LA6 2RL

www.wildcardwalks.co.uk Walks · Greetings Cards · Photos ����

Sparrowhawk Wingspan 60-75cm

Printed under a personal licence. Not for re-sale or distribution.

Sedbergh “flat-topped hill” (Old Norse) Sedbergh, situated at the confluence of four valleys (the Rawthey, Lune, Garsdale

an d Den td a le) became the natural hub for a number of ancient trade routes. The town was granted a market charter by Henry III in 1251, with fa rmin g , woo l production, knitting and weaving being the main industries. T h i s r e c e n t l y refurbished 18th

century spinning gallery in Railton Yard is a reminder of those by-gone days. The two cannons outside Cannon House are said to date from the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and the house is believed to have been a refuge for escaping rebels.

Book Town Sedbergh is England’s first Book Town, a town specialising in the selling, writing and publishing of books - a book lover’s paradise!

Rough fell sheep One of the biggest mountain sheep in Britain, originally bred to

supply wool for the carpet industry of Kendal.

The northern view from Crook The Calf at 676m is the highest point of The Howgill Fells which lay between Kirkby Stephen, Tebay and Sedbergh. These rounded grass-covered hills, largely free from walls and fences, were likened by Alfred Wainwright to a herd of sleeping elephants. The Howgills are over 400 million years old and owe their rounded shapes to a composition of Silurian and Ordovician slates, grits and mudstones that are equally resistant to weathering. This composition, mostly made up of Coniston Grit produces poor acidic soil incapable of supporting much plant life. Bracken thrives on the lower slopes and heather would once have been quite widespread, but has proved too popular with the sheep! The whole Howgill range lies within Cumbria, but strangely the southern half of the range is included in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

View of Crook from the ditch of Castlehaw Tower You can gain access to the site through the small gate (next to a large one) opposite the entrance to Castlehaw Farm. The two grassy mounds at Castleshaw are the site of a wooden motte and bailey castle. This defensive Norman fortification would have been a great vantage point to guard the Rawthey, Garsdale and Dentdale valleys from Scottish attack. The oval motte (on which would stood the keep) is about nine metres high and is surrounded by a five metre ditch and a steep drop to the south. The lower and larger bailey (a fenced courtyard which would have contained living accommodation and possibly an area for livestock) is thirty metres in length. In 1943 the site became a Granite post for the Royal Observer Corps. Flares were ignited in poor visibility to warn friendly aircraft of the hills. Fears of nuclear attack prompted the building of an underground bunker in the bailey in 1965, but it was closed three years later.

2. (SD 660 928) Pass through the gate and turn right to drop down to the small beck in Settlebeck Gill, which can be forded just above the waterfall. Once over the beck, make your way diagonally uphill to reach the corner of a wall. Follow the first path that slopes up to your right away from the wall. Eventually this narrow path will level out as it follows the course of a pipeline across the southern face of Crook. Continue walking around the fell until you find yourself on its eastern slopes above Ashbeck Gill. After passing a rocky outcrop, look out for a path up to your left which will take you up towards the heap of stones on the summit of Crook. From Crook you can see the lovely ridge walk which connects Winder on your left with Arant Haw on your right. You now follow a small path over the fell (aiming towards the top of Settlebeck Gill) to reach the ridge. Turn left and follow the wonderful track up to the summit of Winder Fell.

Settlebeck Gill and Crook Crook summit 458m As you walk around Crook, you are following the course of a pipeline laid down in the late 19th century to provide water for Sedbergh. The reservoir was sited above the town on the lower slopes of Winder.

Sedbergh School Library This is the original site of the famous school, founded in 1525 as a chantry school by Roger Lupton, Provost of Eton. The library building, built in 1716, originally housed classrooms. The geologist, Adam Sedgwick of Dent and Wordsworth’s son were both pupils at the school. Coleridge’s popular but eccentric and alcoholic son, Hartley, taught here in 1837. The school became a grammar school in 1551, then independent in 1875.

Winder bridleway 473m

Arant Haw 605m

Kestrel Wingspan 65-80cm

Red campion To 1m Mar-Oct

1. (Grid Ref: SD 657 920) Start at Loftus Hill car park, Finkle Street, Sedbergh. Leave the car park and turn right to walk for a short distance up Finkle Street. Take the first right and walk along the left-hand pavement of Back Lane, passing the Library, Railton Yard (to be found behind a ‘private parking’ area and two garages) and Cannon House until you meet the junction with Main Street on your left. Cross Main Street, turn right, then immediately take the track on your left towards ‘Castle Haw’. As you pass the site of the ancient castle on your right, take the small gate on your left which leads up a field to the right of Castlehaw Farm. A gate at the top corner of the field will then lead you on to a walled and fenced footpath. Turn right and follow the good up-hill path until you reach an old metal kissing gate allowing access to the open fell.

Bracken To 2m