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Swirral Edge, Patterdale
Swirral Edge
site name:-   Helvellyn
civil parish:-   Patterdale (formerly Westmorland)
county:-   Cumbria
coordinates:-   NY343154 (etc) 
1Km square:-   NY3415
10Km square:-   NY31

photograph
BRB62.jpg (taken 9.7.2009)  
photograph
CET43.jpg (taken 14.3.2016)  
evidence:-   descriptive text:- Otley 1823 (5th edn 1834) 
placename:-  Swirrel Edge
source data:-   Guide book, A Concise Description of the English Lakes, the mountains in their vicinity, and the roads by which they may be visited, with remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the district, by Jonathan Otley, published by the author, Keswick, Cumberland now Cumbria, by J Richardson, London, and by Arthur Foster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 1823; published 1823-49, latterly as the Descriptive Guide to the English Lakes.
image OT01P035, button  goto source
Page 35:-  "... Keppel Cove Tarn is ... separated from Red Tarn by a narrow mountain ridge, called Swirrel Edge, which branches off from Helvellyn and is terminated by a peak called Catsty Cam, ..."
image OT01P060, button  goto source
Page 60:-  "... A less difficult way [than Striding Edge] is to leave the tarn on the left hand, ascending Swirrel Edge, which is comparatively smooth; yet here is a little rocky scrambling to gain the top of the precipice; in the midst of which it will be well to halt, and take a view of Bassenthwaite Lake with its environs; which cannot be seem from the highest part of the mountain."
evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, Swirral Edge, Helvellyn, Patterdale, Westmorland, by Herbert Bell, photographer, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0608.jpg
stamped on reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS268
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   text:- Mason 1907 (edn 1930) 
source data:-   Text book, The Ambleside Geography Books bk.III, The Counties of England, by Charlotte M Mason, published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co, Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane, and the Parents' Educational Union Office, 26 Victoria Street, London, edn 1930.
MSN1P020.txt
Page 20:-  "..."
"... [Red Tarn] ... is shut in between two sloping walls of rock, the Striding Edge, and the Swirral Edge,- edges indeed, for they are simply steep, narrow, broken pathways on the top of each wall of rock. If you are a good climber, and not apt to become giddy,"
MSN1P021.txt
Page 21:-  "you may make your way up by one of these edges; but beware of a false step on either side of the narrow pathway; one such step, and you are plunged down a precipice of a hundred feet."
evidence:-   outline view:- Jenkinson 1875
placename:-  Swirrel Edge
source data:-   Print, lithograph, outline view, Panoramic Sketches from Helvellyn, Westmorland, by Edwin A Pettitt, London, published by Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, London, 1875.
image  click to enlarge
Jk01E1.jpg
"... Swirrel Edge ..."
item:-  JandMN : 28.5
Image © see bottom of page

photograph
 Click to enlarge
BRB61.jpg (taken 9.7.2009)  
photograph
BUU99.jpg (taken 20.6.2011)  
photograph
BUV01.jpg (taken 20.6.2011)  
photograph
 Click to enlarge
CCD39.jpg  from Brown Cove.
(taken 18.11.2014)  
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