BB1621 : Unfinished Business

This Unfinished Business was to return to and explore the four acre site "..... awarded in perpetuity to the parish of Strickland Roger by the Enclosures Act of 1838 for the inhabitants of that and neighbouring parishes for recreation and exercise."

The area is marked by four boundary stones and our, or at least my, mission was to locate them and check the size of the unenclosed enclosure.

However our route was complicated by not one but two items of Unfinished Business- road bridges still out of commission following the January storms. Unable to reach our intended start point, we parked on the gated minor road north of Staveley close to Birk Field and near to an "interesting" barn!

"Interesting" ?

Objective number one was Brunt Knott.  Yes, Tony and I had been there last week but it was new to Terry and, anyway, we were tackling it from completely the opposite direction- quite a steep grassy climb into an increasingly strong wind.

Brunt Knott behind Potter Fell

From the top we could see the twin summits of Potter Fell, if summit is the right word for the undramatic high points.  

Potter Fell- left one last week, right one this week.

The one that we visited last week, in the north-eastern part of the fell, was the one regarded as the higher by Wainwright and the old Ordnance Survey maps.  However, the modern maps give that honour to the south-western top so, for those wanting to tick off Potter Fell properly, this was Unfinished Business also.

It was actually a much easier track to climb than the other and, although the top is nondescript, it is a good viewpoint.

Kentmere Horseshoe

From there we dropped down to Gurnal Dubs, a lovely artificial tarn (apart from the annoying dog but he shut up after I barked even louder at him).  Here we had lunch then headed for the main Unfinished Business.

We could see in the distance what we thought was one of the boundary stones and so it proved to be.  I tried to log it as a Waypoint on my Garmin but the technology defeated me so I had to log it and the subsequent posts in the old fashioned way.  Pen and paper.

Tony and Terry got tired of my quest and gave up after stone #2. For some inexplicable reason they refused to follow me through knee deep bracken to stone #3 and made directly for the track which led to the marker stone that explains what it was all about.  That is very near stone #4.  For me, it meant a trek across a bog, fortunately currently fairly dry.

When I plotted the area on the map, using the bending path as the western boundary, the answer was exactly 4 acres.  However the quality of the amenity granted to the parishioners for "recreation and exercise" leaves a lot to be desired!

Low Taggleshaw

With that business now finished, I had another mission.  Whilst researching the boundary stones, I discovered from The Megalithic Portal that there is a stone circle, or ring cairn, nearby.  I had found a grid reference for it and it proved pretty accurate.  It is only a small circle, maybe 10 yards diameter with, according to the website, about 20 small stones in the circle.  Unfortunately I forgot to count them. What its purpose was, I do not know.

From then on it was a pleasant stroll across to Gurnal Dubs and down to Potter Tarn where the strange blocks on the outflow, long finished, provided the inspiration for the heading photo.  Nothing to do with Unfinished Business but I liked it!  

Finally, down to the car and off to the Brewery in Staveley Mill Yard. Just one item of Unfinished Business remained and that was soon put right.

Cheers!

Don, 1st June 2016

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1621 .

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing - although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of   the mileages and heights (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

Photos have been gleaned from many sources
although mostly from me and other BOOTboys. Likewise written comment.

I apologise if I have failed to acknowledge properly the source or infringed
copyright.  Please let me know and I will do my best to put things right.

Unless stated otherwise, please feel free to download the material if you wish.
A reference back to this website would be appreciated.

Wainwrights

To see which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing see Which Wainwright When? This may or may not be up to date!

For the latest totals of the mileages, heights and Lakeland Fells Books Wainwrights see: Wainwrights.
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BOOTboys 2016

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