Nine Standards Rigg

The Nine Standards seen from the southwest

The Nine Standards Rigg is a 662 m high mountain peak in the northern Pennines in the North of England, close to the border between the counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Location

The Nine Standards Rigg is an elongated ridge in north-south direction, which is the highest elevation of Hartley Fell. To the west the land falls towards Westmorland, the eastern slope forms a slightly sloping raised bog drained by the Whitsundale Beck to Swale. For the Nine Standards Rigg is part of the watershed between the rivers Eden and Swale and thus also separates the catchment areas of the Irish Sea and the North Sea, ie belongs to the main watershed of England.

At the top is a trigonometric point of the Ordnance Survey.

Nine standards

It has its name Nine Standards Rigg from the Nine Standards, nine striking from afar, up to four meters high, differently shaped towers or columns of dry stacked stones that are a few hundred meters north of the summit.

It is not known when the buildings were erected, nor for any occasion or for what purpose.

Tourism

The Nine Standards Rigg is easily accessible from the western city of Kirkby Stephen on foot. As a hiking destination, it offers extensive views west to the Lake District and to the northwest over the plain of Westmorland. In addition to local hiking trails and the Coast to Coast Walk runs through the Nine Standards Rigg, which is one of its most prominent vantage points.

Because of the strong soil erosion over the course of the trails is changed seasonally and each is marked with signs.