button to main menu  Otley's Guide 1823 (5th edn 1834)
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Page 65:-
lowest vallies, the highest point is 3000 feet above Wast Water.
The lower of these points, lying to the south-west, is a bulky mountain - the proper Scawfell; the higher rising from a narrower base, has been called the Pikes. For want of a designation sufficiently explicit, strangers have sometimes been mistakenly directed to the secondary point; and to cross the deep chasm of Mickle Door, by which they are separated, is a work of considerable difficulty; although the direct distance does not exceed three quarters of a mile. Latterly however, it seems by common consent, the highest point is called Scawfell-Pikes; and since the erection of the large pile and staff upon it in 1826, there is no danger of mistaking the place.
  geology
Excepting some tufts of moss, very little vegetation is to be seen upon these summits. They are chiefly composed of rocks, and large blocks of stone piled one upon another; and their weather-worn surfaces prove that they have long remained in their present state. The prevailing rock is a kind of indurated slate, in layers of finer and coarser materials, which gives to the surface a ribbed or furrowed appearance; the finer parts are compact and hard as flint: and here the lichen geographicus appears in peculiar beauty.
Scawfell-Pikes may be ascended on foot from any of the adjacent vales, but most conveniently from Borrowdale; yet the distance from a place of en-
gazetteer links
button -- "Mickle Door" -- Mickledor
button -- "Scawfell" -- Sca Fell
button -- "Scawfell Pike" -- Scafell Pike
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