Whitbarrow - Lord's Seat

About Whitbarrow - Lord's Seat

Lord's Seat is the summit of Whitbarrow, at 215 metres with 182 metres of prominence, enough to make it a Marilyn. The hill lies about 9 km south-west of Kendal, just north of the A590 near Witherslack, and its steep limestone cliffs are conspicuous from the road.

That limestone was laid down in the Carboniferous, around 350 million years ago. The main cliffs are Dalton Beds, capped by Urswick Limestones from which the pavement on top has formed. Glacial erratics and the pavement itself record the last ice age: bare rock left exposed as the ice withdrew, weathered into the clints and grikes seen today.

Whitbarrow is a biological SSSI and national nature reserve, part of the Morecambe Bay Pavements Special Area of Conservation for its natural limestone habitats, with part of the site additionally a local nature reserve called Whitbarrow Scar. Woodland, grassland and pavement are mixed across the hill.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Whitbarrow (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for England — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in England ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 54.276, -2.859. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is rib of rock 15m SW of large cairn. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

Abney level

Record revised

03-Jun-24

Drop measured from

SD 4358 9071 · 30.9 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

Nearest listed peaks