Mardale Ill Bell

Mardale Ill Bell is a fell in the English Lake District, rising to the south west of Haweswater Reservoir. It stands on the watershed between Mardale and Kentmere and is the highpoint of the south eastern ridge of High Street, midway on its course to Harter Fell.

Topography

The head of the Kentmere valley lies to the south west of the fell with rough slopes leading down over scree to Kentmere Reservoir. Mardale Ill Bell sends out a short grass topped spur, Lingmell End, which splits the head of the valley into two.

The north eastern face of Mardale Ill Bell forms the craggy backdrop to Blea Water. This perfect corrie tarn is the deepest in the Lake District at 207 ft. Its outflow feeds Haweswater, joining with that of a second tarn, Small Water. Between the two, Mardale Ill Bell throws out the rocky spur of Piot Crag. Two tiers of crag drop down to the confluence at Mardale Waters.

South east of the summit a rough narrowing ridge drops to Nan Bield pass at 2,100 ft, before rising again over rocky steps to Harter Fell. Nan Bield was the ancient trading route between Kentmere and the now drowned village of Mardale Green, submerged by the raising of Haweswater in the 1940s. Near the shore of Small Water on the descending path are a number of stone shelters, pointers to the earlier importance of the pass. These each provide refuge for one person in extremis, entrance being via crawling.

Mardale

Coordinates: 54°30′36″N 2°48′36″W / 54.510°N 2.810°W / 54.510; -2.810

Mardale /mɑːrdeɪl/ is a glacial valley in the Lake District, in northern England. The valley used to have a hamlet at its head, called Mardale Green, but this village was submerged in 1935 when the water level of the valley's lake, Haweswater, was raised to form Haweswater Reservoir by the Manchester Corporation.

Most of the village's buildings were blown up by the Royal Engineers, who used them for demolition practice. The exception was the small church, which could accommodate only 75 people, and had an all-ticket congregation for its last service. It was then dismantled stone by stone, and the stones and windows were re-used to build the water take off tower which is situated along the Western shore of the reservoir. Some 97 sets of remains were disinterred from the churchyard and transferred to Shap.Alfred Wainwright protested bitterly about the loss of Mardale in his series of pictorial guides to the Lakeland fells, having first visited it in 1930. The ruins of the abandoned village occasionally reappears when the water level in the reservoir is low. This village is the inspiration for the satirical newspaper the Mardale Times.