Great Cockup

Great Cockup is a fell in the northern Lake District near the village of Uldale. It belongs to the group called the Uldale Fells, alongside Longlands Fell, Great Sca Fell and Meal Fell. The fell rises to 526 metres and appears as a broad, rounded rise rather than a sharp peak. Alfred Wainwright included it in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. He called it functional, with no striking features either from afar or on closer inspection. The name Great Cockup may come from Old English words meaning a blind valley where wild birds gather. It is distinguished from the smaller Little Cockup nearby, which stands 395 metres high on the fell’s north-western shoulder. The word ‘cockup’ in English slang gave the hill extra fame when comedian Denis Norden visited it for a television outing. A local brewery even named a dark beer after the fell, calling it Great Cockup Porter. Walkers usually start from the hamlet of Orthwaite and follow a bridleway up Hause Gill for about two kilometres. From there the southern slopes rise steeply to the summit. Stone-built grouse butts lie 500 metres west of the top, some now reduced to foundations that can puzzle visitors. A large erratic boulder on the southern slope was dropped by a retreating glacier long ago. The summit offers a clear view of Skiddaw’s northern slopes and distant Scottish Borders.