Geology of The Lake District

Welcome to The Lake District dot eu, the site dedicated to the stunning Lake District of northern England. Find local Lakeland geology plus other info with our pages.

Visitors to the lake District, starting way back with the 17th century travel-writers who recounted their experiences in The Lakes, are first struck by the imposing, mountainous grandeur of this area. Look more closely, though, and the variety, contained within, becomes more noticeable. Glacial action, thousands of years ago, refined the landscape into that with which we are familiar today; that of lakes, towering crags, mountainous heights, open fells and dales, all telling the evolutionary story of The Lakes.

Visitors to Lakeland will find numerous lakes, waters and tarns in a variety of shapes and sizes, over fourteen in all. These have come into being because the volcanic rock of the Lake District does not allow water to soak away. Combine this factor with those of high rainfall and deep valleys, formed by retreating glaciers, means that many of those same valleys become the equivalent of huge 'storage tanks' - our beautiful lakes.

The geology of the Lake District National Park falls into three broad groups. The Skiddaw Group is the oldest and is to be found towards the north, with Skiddaw itself as the highest point. The slopes of the mountains in this group are more generally smooth. The next group, to the south of the Skiddaw group, is one known as The Borrowdale Volcanic Group. These rocks lie beneath what are the highest and rockiest mountains of The Lakes, with Scafell Pike (highest peak in England), Scafell, Helvellyn, Coniston Old Man, and the Langdale Pikes, all within this area. Going further south again we come to the Windermere Group which are the lower slopes of the Lake District. These beautiful hills welcome the traveller, from the south, to the Lake District as they straddle the main A road after the motorway is left behind. Within this area can be found Lake Windermere and Coniston Water.

Evidence of man's exploitation of the natural resources is everywhere: abandoned (and still working) mines and quarries, buildings and field walls in recognisably local stone. There are miles of drystone walls, and countless villages built wholly with local stone from local quarries. Slate, quarried from the area of the Borrowdale Volcanic Rock, around Honister Pass, was the most important resource. Granite came from quarries at Eskdale, Threlkeld and Shap and was used for cobbles and kerb stones. Mines were opened to extract the rich mineral ores including lead and sometimes silver. Keswick is well known as the home of lead pencils, the industry utilising the graphite mined in Borrowdale. In Coniston copper was mined.