Ingleborough

About Ingleborough

Defined by its iconic, mesa-like silhouette, this stepped peak rises steeply above the surrounding limestone pavements. Its gritstone-capped plateau, once home to an Iron Age hillfort, overlooks the dramatic shaft of Gaping Gill. It is a cornerstone of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, offering commanding views toward the Ribblehead Viaduct.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is rooted in Old English, combining 'ingel' (a beacon or fire) and 'burh' (a fortified place). This reflects its historical role as a prominent high-point for signaling and defense across the Yorkshire Dales.
• •The summit plateau is ringed by the collapsed remains of a gritstone wall, part of an Iron Age hillfort. It remains one of the highest archaeological sites of its kind in Britain, once containing the stone foundations of over twenty circular huts.
• •On the southern slopes, the Fell Beck stream disappears into Gaping Gill, a 98-metre-deep pothole. The main underground chamber is so vast that it is famously cited as being large enough to accommodate the entirety of York Minster.
• •Alfred Wainwright was a great admirer of the hill, describing it as 'the king of the hills' in his guide to the region. He particularly noted that its distinctive 'stepped' profile is the result of alternating layers of hard limestone and softer shales and sandstones.
• •The view from the summit shelter provides a grand sense of Dales geography. On clear days, the twenty-four arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct are visible to the north, while the distant silhouettes of the Lake District fells, including Black Combe, appear on the western horizon.
• •The summit plateau is so broad and level that it once hosted a Victorian racecourse; nowadays, the only racing is done by 'Three Peaks' walkers trying to reach the stone shelter before the next Atlantic front arrives.