Burnmoor stone circles

The Burnmoor Stone Circles are a group of five different approximately 4,000-year-old stone circles in Cumbria. They are around 1 mile north of the village of Boot, on the slopes of Boat How. The site which covers roughly a square mile is looked after by the National Trust. The largest circle is known as Brat's Hill and there are two nearby pairs of circles known as White Moss and Low Longrigg.

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1.1 km

Miterdale Head Wood

Miterdale Head Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, England. It is 3km east of Santon Bridge near Eskdale. This hazel-birch woodland is protected because of its exceptional diversity of moss and liverwort species.

1.2 km

Eskdale Corn Mill

Eskdale Corn Mill, also simply known as Eskdale Mill, is a grade II* listed corn mill, together with associated buildings, in the village of Boot in the English county of Cumbria. The corn mill takes the form of a watermill powered by the Whillan Beck. Its associated buildings include an outbuilding and stone packhorse bridge over the beck, both of which are separately listed at grade II.

Boat How

Boat How or Eskdale Moor is a hill in the English Lake District, near Boot, in Cumberland, Cumbria. It lies south of Burnmoor Tarn, between the River Mite to the west and the Whillan Beck tributary of Eskdale to the east. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. It reaches 1,105 feet (337 m) and Wainwright describes an anticlockwise circuit from Boot. He says: "Its proliferation of ancient remains makes it a happy hunting ground for walkers with an eye for relics of days long past", mentioning the presence of four stone circles. Richards in his Fellranger books names the hill as Eskdale Moor and refers to the summit outcrop as Boat How, but the Database of British and Irish Hills identifies it as Boat How, while classifying it as a Tump, Outlying Fell, Birkett, Synge and Fellranger. Richards describes ascent routes from Dalegarth railway station, Miterdale Forest or the village of Eskdale Green, and describes the fell as "Tract of fascinating moorland between Miterdale and Eskdale, with tarns and ancient relics". Historic England uses the name Burnmoor, for an area including Boat How but extending north of Burnmoor Tarn: in its description of "Maiden Castle round cairn, Burnmoor", to the north of the tarn, it describes it as lying "at the northern end of a large area of open moorland known as Burnmoor which contains an abundance of prehistoric remains". There are four scheduled ancient monuments on the fell, described as "Cairnfield including a funerary cairn, standing stone and three stone banks south of Eller How, Burnmoor", "Prehistoric enclosure containing three hut circles and eight clearance cairns and an adjacent hut circle and cairnfield north east of Boat How, Burnmoor", "Prehistoric enclosure containing ten clearance cairns south west of Boat How, Burnmoor" and "Cairnfield including a prehistoric enclosure, 5 stone circles, 10 funerary cairns, 6 stone banks, 2 stone walls, a lynchet and a trackway on Burnmoor" (known as Burnmoor stone circles).

Boot, Cumbria

Boot is a small village in Eskdale on the western side of the English Lake District. It lies within the civil parish of Eskdale, the unitary authority of Cumberland, and the ceremonial county of Cumbria. The main part of the village lies beside the Whillan Beck, whilst its church, St Catherine's, lies 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to the south on the bank of the River Esk. The Whillan Beck flows into the Esk just downstream of the village. The village can be approached by two roads, one up the valley from the coast, and the other over the Hardknott and Wrynose passes from the central Lake District. The latter is England's steepest road and is often closed in winter or during icy weather. The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a seasonally operated narrow-gauge steam railway, has its upper terminus at Dalegarth station, some 5 minutes walk from the village. On the moorland around 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village are five Bronze Age stone circles known collectively as the Burnmoor stone circles and dating from around 2000 BCE. The remains of the Hardknott Roman Fort are 3 miles (4.8 km) to the east; the fort was occupied for most of the period from the early 2nd to the late 4th centuries. In the village there is a watermill dating back to 1547 known as Eskdale Corn Mill. Since the 1970s this has been open to the public as a visitor attraction and showcases original working milling machinery driven by two overshot waterwheels. The mill underwent a £1 million refurbishment in 2019 with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Copeland Community Fund. During the 19th century there was some mining of hematite iron ore at a number of sites around Boot, including at Nab Gill above the village, Ban Garth just to the west and Gill Force on the other side of the Esk. It was these mines that led to the initial construction of the railway, which at that time terminated in the village and was linked to the mines by branches or inclines, but yields proved to be disappointing and all the mines had closed by 1912. Besides the surviving railway, some traces of the mines and connecting railways can be found. The railway is now narrow-gauge and part of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a major tourist attraction in Eskdale. The permanent population of Boot is 10–15, but can rise to between 90 and 120 in summer when the local pubs, bed-and-breakfasts and holiday cottages are full. The village has two pubs, The Boot Inn (formerly The Burnmoor Inn) and The Brook House Inn, with The Woolpack Inn (incorporating the Hardknott Bar & Cafe) about a mile towards Hardknott Pass. The Woolpack Inn has an adjoined brewery known as Hardknott Brewery. All these businesses survive on fell walkers (ramblers), the passengers of the railway, and holiday-makers from the nearby campsite and cottages. On 2 June 2010, Boot became the centre of a search after a shooting spree in Cumbria. The killer, 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird, was found dead in woods near Boot after a four-hour manhunt. He killed 12 people and injured 11 others.