Tongue Rigg

About Tongue Rigg

Situated on the eastern fringes of the Far Eastern Fells near Shap, this grassy outlier offers a secluded vantage point over the remote Swindale valley. It is a quiet, peat-scarred ridge that acts as a topographical bridge between the high High Street massif and the gentler pastoral edges of the Lake District.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is derived from the Old Norse 'tunga', describing a tongue-like protrusion of land, and 'hryggr', meaning a ridge, accurately reflecting its shape as a tapering spur extending from the higher fells.
• •The summit provides an excellent perspective on the rugged eastern faces of Kidsty Pike and High Raise, while looking east offers views across the Eden Valley toward the distant spine of the North Pennines.
• •The hill is classified as a Synge, a list created by Timothy Synge to document Lake District summits that have at least 15 metres of prominence, often highlighting minor tops missed by other guidebooks.
• •The eastern slopes drop toward Swindale Beck, where a significant environmental project has successfully restored the river's natural meanders to improve the local habitat for spawning salmon and trout.
• •If you find yourself sharing the summit with anyone other than a Herdwick sheep or a fell pony, you have likely caught the ridge on its busiest day of the decade.