Lake District
Bigland Barrow
193M
633FT
About Bigland Barrow
Rising modestly above the River Leven, this limestone-skirted hill offers an accessible introduction to the southern Lake District. The summit is marked by a distinctive concrete observation tower, a relic of the Second World War, providing a wide vantage point over the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay and the surrounding Cartmel fells.
Key Statistics
Rank
942nd Highest in Region
Parent Range
Far Eastern Fells
Prominence
?
25m
Nearest Town
Backbarrow
Geology
You’re walking on the Bannisdale Formation, which consists of layered sandstone, silt, and mud rocks. These sediments form the sturdy foundation of the fell.
Classifications
Find It
OS Grid Reference
SD363839
Latitude
54.2476°N
Longitude
2.9782°W
Did You Know?
- •The name derives from the Old Norse 'bygg', meaning barley, and the Old English 'beorg', meaning a hill; it has long been associated with the nearby Bigland Hall estate.
- •Alfred Wainwright included the hill in his Outlying Fells guide, recommending an anticlockwise circuit from Newby Bridge and noting the 'extensive and beautiful' prospect of the Leven estuary.
- •The summit’s concrete observation tower served as a Royal Observer Corps post during the Second World War, strategically placed to spot enemy aircraft heading for the shipyards at Barrow-in-Furness.
- •Clear days offer a spanning view that reaches from the industrial skyline of the Furness peninsula to the high Lakeland peaks of Coniston Old Man and the Langdale Pikes.
- •While most Lakeland summits are crowned with a traditional stone cairn, this one offers the slightly less romantic aesthetic of a derelict concrete bunker.