Sallows

About Sallows

Sitting quietly above the Troutbeck valley, this grassy Wainwright forms the twin-topped bulk of Applethwaite Common alongside Sour Howes. Its gentle, rounded summit is crossed by a drystone wall and offers a grandstand view of the rugged Ill Bell ridge across the valley, contrasting sharp rocky crests with these softer slopes.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is derived from the Old English 'salh' or Old Norse 'selja', referring to sallow or willow trees. While today the fell is largely open grazing land, the name suggests a landscape once populated by these water-loving trees in the boggy depressions of the common.
• •Alfred Wainwright was famously unenthusiastic about the terrain, describing the high ground between Sallows and Sour Howes as 'a tedious succession of peat hags and pools', though he conceded that the view of the Kentmere fells is excellent.
• •The summit offers a particularly clear perspective of the Kentmere Horseshoe to the east, specifically the steep, craggy profiles of Ill Bell and Froswick, which look far more formidable from this elevation than they do from the valley floor.
• •A prominent drystone wall serves as a reliable navigational handrail across the summit plateau, marking the historic boundary between the Troutbeck and Kentmere watersheds.
• •It is a hill that proves the Wainwright list is a democratic one; it grants the same satisfaction of a completed 'tick' as its more dramatic neighbours, despite being essentially a large, damp field with a wall on top.