Gregory Chapel

Gregory Chapel is one of the high points of the fells on the border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire. The summit is marked by a nearby sheep shelter and an unusual and conspicuous cairn - taller and more rectangular than most others locally. (This may, perhaps, be the origin of the curious name "chapel"?) The main rock in the area is limestone, with Millstone Grit outcrops on the tops. There are fine views over to Wild Boar Fell and Swarth Fell 5 km to the west, across the dale of Mallerstang. Hill walkers seem to prefer to give it the name Archy Styrigg; although Ordnance Survey maps show this name along the small plateau at about 680 m elevation to the southwest of the summit, leading over Mallerstang Edge. (This would fit the Norse name, characteristic of this area: sty = track or path, rigg = ridge: i.e. path along a ridge). It is classified as a Nuttall and sub-Hewitt, but it has a relatively small prominence, having several other high points nearby, and hardly merits being described as a peak. This high, boggy ground is really one great plateau which rarely drops much below 600 m (2000 ft) between Mallerstang Edge and Great Shunner Fell, 5.4 km to the south-east. Gregory Chapel is one of the three high points of Mallerstang Edge, the others being High Seat 1.04 km almost due north, and Hugh Seat 1.26 km SSE. They mark the eastern border of the Parish of Mallerstang, Cumbria - which is also the county border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

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High Seat (Yorkshire Dales)

High Seat is a fell in the dale of Mallerstang, Cumbria. With a summit at 709 metres (2,326 ft), it is the fourth highest fell in the Yorkshire Dales after Whernside, Ingleborough and Great Shunner Fell. It is in the north-western part of the Dales, overlooking the deep trench of Mallerstang, and is usually climbed from this side. To the south-east is Hugh Seat (whose summit is marked by Lady Anne's Pillar, commemorating Sir Hugh de Morville). On the opposite (western) side of Mallerstang is the more striking (but 1 metre lower) Wild Boar Fell. It is not a Marilyn, having a relative height of 112 m, and therefore may be regarded as a subsidiary top of Great Shunner Fell, to the east. It is, however, a HuMP. Oddly enough, it is the highest point on the main England east-to-west watershed in the Dales, the three higher fells being some distance from the watershed. Three main rivers have their origins in the peat bogs here: the River Eden, the River Swale, and the River Ure.

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Vale of Eden

The Vale of Eden is formed by the course of the River Eden, one of the major rivers of Northwest England. It is however of much greater extent than the actual valley of the river, lying between the Cumbrian Mountains (more usually referred to as the Lake District), and the northern part of the Pennis Range. It lies entirely within the county of Cumbria. The river has its source in the peat bogs below Hugh Seat, in the dale of Mallerstang. At first it heads off south (as Hellgill Beck) before turning back north for the rest of its course – except just before its outlet into the sea which it enters from the east. The Eden passes through the market towns of Kirkby Stephen and Appleby-in-Westmorland, once the county town of Westmorland. It then bypasses, but remains close to, Penrith where it receives the waters of Ullswater via the River Eamont, its major tributary. Via some ancient villages and fine bridges it reaches and passes through Carlisle, the major city in this whole area. It then enters the sea where, together with the River Esk, coming down from the North, it forms the Solway Firth which divides Scotland from England on the Atlantic side of the country. The whole area is gentle and pastoral, undulating and attractive but with bleak, barren and impressive hills on either side.

Hugh Seat

Hugh Seat is a mountain, or more accurately a fell, in Mallerstang on the eastern edge of Cumbria, England. It lies on the border between Cumbria and North Yorkshire. Hugh Seat is a high point above Black Fell Moss, an extensive area of peat bog drained by Red Gill Beck, which is the source of the River Eden. At this "watershed of England" two other great rivers, the Ure and the Swale, also rise within a kilometre of the Eden. Although it has a relatively small prominence, having several other high points nearby (and is therefore classified as a "sub-Hewitt" or a Nuttall but not a Marilyn), Hugh Seat nevertheless rises conspicuously above the source of the River Eden. The old name for this peak was Hugh Seat Morvill or sometimes Morvil Hill, (and Daniel Defoe confuses it with Wild Boar Fell in his "Tour"). Near the summit there is a column of cut stones, known as "Lady's Pillar", and the inscription AP1664 can just be made out – for Anne Pembroke, Lady Anne Clifford's married name. The pillar was erected in 1664 to commemorate Sir Hugh de Morville, Lady Anne's predecessor as Lord of the Manor of Mallerstang. (Sir Hugh was one of the four knights responsible for the murder of Archbishop St.Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170). The border between the counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire is marked near the summit by a fence, which is intended to stop sheep which are "heafed" (trained to stay in a certain area without the need for fences) straying beyond their allotted common land. There are extensive views from the summit – south-east to Cotterdale and Wensleydale, north-west to Gregory Chapel, and west to Mallerstang and Wild Boar Fell. This rugged terrain between Great Shunner Fell and Wild Boar Fell, (part of what David Bellamy has called "the last wilderness in England"), is too inaccessible to be well known by tourists, but it is a favourite route for many walkers.

Mallerstang

Mallerstang is a civil parish in the extreme east of Cumbria, and, geographically, a dale at the head of the upper Eden Valley. Originally part of Westmorland, it lies about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the nearest town, Kirkby Stephen. Its eastern edge, at Aisgill, borders on North Yorkshire; and since August 2016 it has been within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. At the 2011 census data for Wharton was included with Mallerstang, giving a total population of 173.