Dodd

Dodd is a small fell in the Lake District, Cumbria, four kilometres north-west of Keswick. It belongs to the Skiddaw range in the northern part of the national park, and its slopes are heavily wooded. The fell lies on Forestry England land known as Dodd Wood, which was once planted with conifers right up to the summit. Tree clearance began in 2001, and the summit is now clear, with plans for it to revert to heather moorland. Influential guidebook author Alfred Wainwright opposed the afforestation of Dodd in his 1962 Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. Dodd has a height of 502 metres, though the Ordnance Survey marks a spot height of 491 metres about 100 metres south of the true summit. The fell is composed of laminated mudstone and siltstone with greywacke sandstone, dating back to the Ordovician age. Dodd and Dodd Wood have become a magnet for visitors due to the area’s wildlife. It is home to one of the only four pairs of nesting Ospreys in northern England, with a viewing platform opened in 2001. The wood is also a stronghold for the Red Squirrel in Great Britain. A waymarked route leads from the car park at the Old Sawmill tea room up to the summit of Dodd. The top is marked by a stone memorial pillar with a brass plaque. The view from the summit includes Bassenthwaite Lake, Derwent Water, and high mountains such as Scafell Pike and Great Gable. In the 1860s, a Scottish hermit called George Smith, known as the Skiddaw Hermit, lived on a ledge on the fell. He earned money by painting portraits and doing character assessments at local fairs.