Wolfscote Hill

About Wolfscote Hill

Rising steeply above the winding River Dove, this limestone peak offers a quintessential White Peak experience. Its sharp, grassy slopes lead to an airy summit plateau marked by a prehistoric burial mound, providing a grandstand view over the deep trenches of Wolfscote Dale and Biggin Dale toward the village of Hartington.

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Did You Know?

• •The name likely derives from the Old English 'wulf' and 'cot', suggesting a shelter or cottage in an area once frequented by wolves.
• •The summit is topped by a bowl barrow, a Bronze Age burial mound nearly 20 metres wide. Excavations in the mid-19th century by local archaeologists Thomas Bateman and Samuel Carrington discovered a stone cist containing the remains of two children.
• •The hill is one of the 'Ethels', a collection of 95 Peak District summits named in honour of Ethel Haythornthwaite, the pioneer who campaigned for the creation of the Peak District National Park.
• •From the cairn, the view to the south-east takes in the narrow, winding ribbon of the River Dove, while to the north-west, the distinctive limestone 'reef knolls' of Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill are clearly visible on the horizon.
• •The southern slopes have been in the care of the National Trust since 1939, when the land was bequeathed to the charity by Lady McDougall to preserve its character as part of the White Peak estate.
• •Despite the name, the only predators you are likely to encounter on these slopes today are particularly ambitious crows or a sheep with a grudge.