Great Whernside

About Great Whernside

Dominating the skyline above Wharfedale, this gritstone-capped giant marks the high point of the watershed between the Dales and Nidderdale. Its broad, often peat-stained plateau provides a rugged sense of isolation, offering a sprawling vantage point over the Southern Fells and the distinctive shapes of the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

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Did You Know?

• •The name derives from the Old English 'cweorn', meaning quernstone; the hill’s millstone grit was historically prized for carving the heavy hand-mills used to grind corn.
• •Though it shares a name with the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks to the west, this Great Whernside is an entirely separate Marilyn standing roughly 15 miles further east.
• •On the western slopes sits Hag Dyke, a former farmhouse turned scout hostel that sits at 465 metres, making it one of the highest buildings in the National Park.
• •The summit offers a specific, earned view of the radomes at Menwith Hill to the southeast, while the gritstone edges of Simon's Seat are clearly visible across the valley.
• •The hill’s upper reaches contain the wreckage of several aircraft, including a Wellington bomber that crashed in 1942, a somber reminder of how quickly Pennine mist can turn treacherous.
• •The 'Great' in the name serves primarily to distinguish it from its neighbor, Little Whernside, rather than to indicate any greater degree of firmness underfoot across the notoriously boggy summit plateau.