Nine Standards Rigg

Nine Standards Rigg rises above Hartley Fell in the Pennine Hills, a few miles south-east of Kirkby Stephen. It stands just outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park yet within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The fell takes its name from the Nine Standards, a group of stone cairns near the summit. Alan Dawson’s book *The Hewitts and Marilyns of England* lists the fell under this name rather than Hartley Fell. The boundary between Cumbria and North Yorkshire passes close by. The Nine Standards themselves once stood over four metres tall along the Coast to Coast Walk. Their original purpose remains unclear, though they may have marked the old boundary between Westmorland and Swaledale. They sit at 650 metres above sea level on the watershed dividing two river catchments. The Eden’s headwaters flow north-west while Whitsundale Beck drains south-east. The cairns offer a better vantage point than the Ordnance Survey trig point marking the actual summit. From the Nine Standards, Cross Fell and Great Dun Fell appear to the north-west. Wild Boar Fell and the Howgills rise in the south-west, while the High Street Range of the eastern Lake District dominates the western horizon. Great Shunner Fell, crossed by the Pennine Way, and Rogan’s Seat can be seen to the south-east. The wide views stretch across three counties on clear days.