LANGDALE
Langdale is found right at the centre of the Lake District and is split into two valleys, Great Langdale and Little Langdale. Langdale takes its name from the Old Norse term used for ‘long valley’.
Langdale is home to several fells, including Bowell and Crinkle Crags at its head before meeting with Grasmere, Rydal and Ambleside valley to the north end of Windermere.
The earliest permanent human settlement was predicted to be in the Bronze Age, though human presence can be traced back to the Neolithic times, where there was a productive stone axe industry.
During the Roman’s reign a road spanning through Little Langdale from the fort at Ambleside to the one at Hardknott Pass was built.
The area is still an important valley for Herdwick sheep breeding and around half of the high grazing is used for this local breed.
The Langdale valleys are a favourite choice for many rock climbers. William Wordsworth aided its popularity by writing about Blea Tarn — found in the hanging valley between Little and Great Langdale to the north — in his poem ‘The Excursion’. He also referred to it in another text as a ‘must visit’ valley.
One of the most famed features of the U-shaped glacial valley Great Langdale is the cluster of peaks on the northern aspect called the Langdale Pikes. Scafell Pike can also be climbed via a route from Langdale and Dungeon Ghyll is a ravine on the north side of the valley, starting on the slopes between Harrison Stickle and Loft Crag. There are two villages — Chapel Stile and Elterwater — in the valley as well a small hamlet at High Close.
Great Langdale was once a centre of the Lakeland slate industry.
In contrast, Little Langdale is defined as a hanging valley and has a hamlet of the same name. It has a few stone houses and a pub as well as two tarns, Little Langdale tarn and Blea tarn. Little Langdale is flanked on the south by Swirl How and Wetherlam. The valley has been subject to extensive mining over the last few hundred years, particularly for copper and slate, though there has been little activity recently.
Little Langdale was home to the 19th century smuggler Lanty Slee, who built Greenbank Farm in the valley in 1840.
Other buildings of interest include the 17th century Grade II listed National Trust protected Fell Foot Farm and High Hallgarth, a 17th century cottage which overlooks Little Langdale tarn.
