Mountain landscape

Home Learning Learning resources Geography resources Geography resources: Mountain landscape

Mountain landscapes

Mountain landscapes are areas of high land with steep slopes, deep valleys and rugged scenery. They are shaped over millions of years by powerful natural forces. In the Lake District, many mountains are made of hard volcanic rock. Glaciers during the last Ice Age carved out valleys, sharpened ridges and created lakes. Rivers and streams continue to shape the land today.

Mountain areas often have small settlements and limited roads because the steep land makes building difficult. Farming usually takes place on the valley floor and lower slopes, while higher land is often open fell used for grazing. The climate in mountain regions is often cooler, wetter and windier than in lowland areas. These landscapes attract visitors for walking, climbing and enjoying the scenery, but they can also be challenging places to live and work.

This page uses Wasdale as a case study to explore the features of a mountain landscape in the Lake District.

Wasdale

This typically dramatic Western Lake District landscape shows the flat valley bottom at the head of Wasdale. The photo below is taken at the bottom of Wasdale Fell. At the far end of the lake is the small hamlet of Wasdale Head which has a pub, a few B&Bs, a hotel and a couple of farms. The valley only has one road in and out; it is in effect a dead end. The valley is dominated by Wastwater, which is England’s deepest lake (74m).

The nearest primary school to Wasdale is Gosforth CE School (9 miles away) and the nearest town is Egremont (13 miles away), which has the local secondary school, West Lakes Academy. Gosforth CE School is a small school with just 115 pupils. There is a campsite at the northern edge of Wastwater. England’s smallest chapel is surrounded by trees in the middle of the fields in the valley bottom. The famous fell runner Joss Naylor came from the Wasdale valley.

Wasdale is surrounded by mountains. Yewbarrow (628 m) is visible on the right and Illgill Head (609 m) is visible on the left. Lingmell Beck, which flows into Wastwater, is visible on the lefthand side of the photo. Lingmell Beck shows examples of both stream braiding and a meander. The mountains in the photo are volcanic in origin and are the outcome of glaciation during the last Ice Age which ended about 10,000 years ago.

The photo shows how dry-stone walls are used to divide up the farming landscape. The fields around the farm in the valley bottom are known as in-bye fields, whereas the fields up the fellside have been ‘taken’ from the fell and are known as in-take fields. The land above the highest wall is the open fell.

Wasdale is the main access point to England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike (978m) and sits at 80m above sea level. The brown colours in the scene suggest the photo was taken during the autumn. The orange/brown vegetation is bracken, a fern which has grown up in areas where trees would once have been. The shrubs near the river are gorse.

Many of the older Cumbrian buildings are white because houses and farms used to be treated with red lead and then lime washed, which whitens, to keep out the damp. Many homeowners today have perpetuated the tradition of painting their houses white.

Grid reference of Wasdale Head: NY 187088