Mellbreak
Encyclopedia
Mellbreak is a hill
in the Western part of the English
Lake District
. Despite being surrounded on all sides by higher fells (the Loweswater Fells, the High Stile
Ridge and the Grasmoor
Group), it stands in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by a 'moat
' of deep marshy land, and on the east side by the lake
of Crummock Water
. The fell forms a partnership with the lake, running parallel to it, falling sheer into it, and regularly providing the backdrop for pictures of it.
of the Vikings, 'brekka', which means a hill slope.
occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale
to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable
and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale
, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Mellbreak and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm.
The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village
. From the west these are Burnbank Fell
, Blake Fell
, Gavel Fell
, Hen Comb
and Mellbreak, the "thumb". To continue the hand metaphor, the opposing thumb of Mellbreak is the tenuous northern extremity of Starling Dodd
, whilst the other Loweswater Fells are satellites of Great Borne
.
The fell has been likened (by Alfred Wainwright
and others) to the shape of an upturned boat, having north and south tops of roughly equal height and a wide flat depression in between. On the eastern side the steep slopes run down directly to the shore of Crummock Water. Low Ling Crag, a rocky projection into the lake, is a continuation of outcrops higher up. Other crags rim the depression between the two tops.
The southern boundary is formed by Scale Beck and its tributary Black Beck. Mellbreak has a third much lower top overlooking this steep sided valley, Scale Kott (1,109 ft). At the head of Black Beck is the connection to Starling Dodd, running south west from Scale Knott. This could hardly be considered a ridge in walking terms, since it begins at the foot of an 800 ft scree slope on the northern flank of Starling Dodd.
To the west of Mellbreak is the marshy valley of Mosedale, its beck flowing north to Loweswater village. On the other side is the parallel ridge of Hen Comb. The northern end of Mellbreak rises direct from the valley behind the village, precipitous like a sand castle on a flat beach. From this vantage point its steep gable
d profile is an arresting sight. The successive rock tiers of White, Dropping and Raven Crags complete the picture.
and siltstone
of the Kirkstile Formation. There is an intrusion of basalt
on the Crummock face and the southern end around Scale Knott exhibit the Buttermere Formation. This is an olistostrome
of disrupted, sheared and folded mudstone, siltstone and sandstone
.The rocks of Hen Comb are of the Kirkstile Formation, laminated mudstone
and siltstone
, often associated with the Skiddaw
group.
There are two small trials for iron
, one on each side of the fell. Neither penetrates for more than a few feet.
s, that of the true summit being on grass. The views are good from both summits, a consequence of Mellbreak's isolation and great relative height
. The north top brings the Solway Firth
into view, but otherwise the differences are mainly confined to the foreground. Grasmoor
and Rannerdale Knotts
look impressive across the lake, an unexpected glimpse of the Helvellyn range
seen behind.
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
in the Western part of the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
. Despite being surrounded on all sides by higher fells (the Loweswater Fells, the High Stile
High Stile
High Stile is a mountain in the western part of the Lake District in northwest England. It is the eleventh highest English Marilyn, standing 807 metres high, and has a relative height of 362 metres ....
Ridge and the Grasmoor
Grasmoor
Grasmoor is a mountain in the north-western part of the Lake District, northern England. It is the highest peak in a group of hills between the villages of Lorton, Braithwaite and Buttermere, and overlooks Crummock Water....
Group), it stands in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by a 'moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
' of deep marshy land, and on the east side by the lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
of Crummock Water
Crummock Water
Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in Cumbria, North West England situated between Buttermere to the south and Loweswater to the north. Crummock Water is two and a half miles long, three quarters of a mile wide and 140ft deep. The River Cocker is considered to start at the north of the...
. The fell forms a partnership with the lake, running parallel to it, falling sheer into it, and regularly providing the backdrop for pictures of it.
Name
Mellbreak's name is derived from differing sources: the Celtic 'moel', meaning 'bare hill', and the later Old NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
of the Vikings, 'brekka', which means a hill slope.
Topography
The Western FellsWestern Fells
The Western Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Centred on Great Gable they occupy a triangular area between Buttermere and Wasdale...
occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale
Wasdale
Wasdale is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is occupied by Wastwater, the deepest lake in England...
to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable
Great Gable
Great Gable is a mountain lying at the very heart of the English Lake District, appearing as a pyramid from Wasdale , but as a dome from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are many different routes to the summit...
and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale
Ennerdale
Ennerdale may refer to:* Ennerdale, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa* Ennerdale Water, a lake in the Lake District in England**Ennerdale Bridge, a nearby settlement...
, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Mellbreak and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm.
The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village
Loweswater, Cumbria
Loweswater is a village and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England.-Village:The village lies between the Lake District lakes of Loweswater and Crummock Water, about south of Cockermouth and within the Lake District National Park...
. From the west these are Burnbank Fell
Burnbank Fell
Burnbank Fell is a small hill in the west of the English Lake District. It is the most westerly of the Loweswater Fells, a group of low grassy hills lying just south of Loweswater. The hill is predominantly grassy with sprawling flanks and a broad ridge connecting it to Blake Fell...
, Blake Fell
Blake Fell
Blake Fell is a hill in the Western part of the English Lake District. It is the highest point of the Loweswater Fells, an area of low grassy hills with steep sides overlooking the lake of Loweswater. The fell also overlooks the village of Loweswater, from which it can be climbed. An alternative...
, Gavel Fell
Gavel Fell
Gavel Fell is a hill in the English Lake District. Centremost of the five Loweswater Fells in the western part of the District, it stands between Hen Comb and Blake Fell...
, Hen Comb
Hen Comb
Hen Comb is a fell in the west of the English Lake District. One of the Loweswater Fells it lies to the south of Loweswater lake and Loweswater village...
and Mellbreak, the "thumb". To continue the hand metaphor, the opposing thumb of Mellbreak is the tenuous northern extremity of Starling Dodd
Starling Dodd
Starling Dodd is a fell in the western part of the English Lake District, located between the valleys of Ennerdale and Buttermere, on the ridge between Great Borne to its west and Red Pike to its east...
, whilst the other Loweswater Fells are satellites of Great Borne
Great Borne
Great Borne is a fell in the English Lake District with a height of . It is a rather secluded hill situated at the western end of the long ridge which divides the Ennerdale and Buttermere valleys.-Name:...
.
The fell has been likened (by Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...
and others) to the shape of an upturned boat, having north and south tops of roughly equal height and a wide flat depression in between. On the eastern side the steep slopes run down directly to the shore of Crummock Water. Low Ling Crag, a rocky projection into the lake, is a continuation of outcrops higher up. Other crags rim the depression between the two tops.
The southern boundary is formed by Scale Beck and its tributary Black Beck. Mellbreak has a third much lower top overlooking this steep sided valley, Scale Kott (1,109 ft). At the head of Black Beck is the connection to Starling Dodd, running south west from Scale Knott. This could hardly be considered a ridge in walking terms, since it begins at the foot of an 800 ft scree slope on the northern flank of Starling Dodd.
To the west of Mellbreak is the marshy valley of Mosedale, its beck flowing north to Loweswater village. On the other side is the parallel ridge of Hen Comb. The northern end of Mellbreak rises direct from the valley behind the village, precipitous like a sand castle on a flat beach. From this vantage point its steep gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d profile is an arresting sight. The successive rock tiers of White, Dropping and Raven Crags complete the picture.
Geology and Mining
Mellbreak is formed primarily from the laminated mudstoneMudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
and siltstone
Siltstone
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
of the Kirkstile Formation. There is an intrusion of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
on the Crummock face and the southern end around Scale Knott exhibit the Buttermere Formation. This is an olistostrome
Olistostrome
The term olistostrome is derived from olio - a dish of many ingredients or stew; a mixture of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge. and stroma - a bed covering...
of disrupted, sheared and folded mudstone, siltstone and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
.The rocks of Hen Comb are of the Kirkstile Formation, laminated mudstone
Mudstone
Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...
and siltstone
Siltstone
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
, often associated with the Skiddaw
Skiddaw
Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. With a summit at 931 m above sea level it is the fourth highest mountain in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes...
group.
There are two small trials for iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, one on each side of the fell. Neither penetrates for more than a few feet.
Summit and View
Although the south top is slightly higher, at 512 m (1,680 ft) it is the north top (509 m, 1,670 ft) that is the better summit, being rocky and situated on the top of the crags that make up the north face of the fell. Both carry substantial cairnCairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
s, that of the true summit being on grass. The views are good from both summits, a consequence of Mellbreak's isolation and great relative height
Topographic prominence
In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...
. The north top brings the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
into view, but otherwise the differences are mainly confined to the foreground. Grasmoor
Grasmoor
Grasmoor is a mountain in the north-western part of the Lake District, northern England. It is the highest peak in a group of hills between the villages of Lorton, Braithwaite and Buttermere, and overlooks Crummock Water....
and Rannerdale Knotts
Rannerdale Knotts
Rannerdale Knotts is a fell in the Lake District of Cumbria, England. Rising from the Buttermere valley, it is one of the smaller Cumbrian hills and is overlooked by a number of surrounding fells, such as Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike and, across Crummock Water, Mellbreak and the High Stile ridge...
look impressive across the lake, an unexpected glimpse of the Helvellyn range
Helvellyn range
Helvellyn range is the name given to a part of the Eastern Fells in the English Lake District, fell being the local word for hill. The name comes from Helvellyn, the highest point of the group....
seen behind.