Binsey - Topography

Topography

Binsey stands on the otherwise low-level watershed separating the catchments of the Ellen to the north and the Derwent to the south. A slight ridge connects it to Great Cockup in the main massif of the Northern Fells, two miles to the south east. Binsey itself has a rounded form, but somehow manages to impress the eye more than the similar Great Mell Fell and Little Mell Fell.

The "pudding basin" shape holds all around Binsey except to the north west where a ridge descends over Whitas Park to a depression containing the remains of a Roman fort. Beyond is St John's Hill (950 ft) (called Caermote Hill in Wainwright's Outlying Fells) which is topped by an earthwork called "The Battery". Finally the ridge descends to the village of Bothel in the Ellen Valley.

Binsey sends out a further spur to the east, culminating in the shapely top of Latrigg (1,030 ft)— not to be confused with Latrigg near Keswick. Beneath Latrigg is Over Water, a large tarn which was raised by damming in 1920 to provide drinking water for Wigton. The ouflow of Over Water feeds the Ellen, as does the gloriously named Humble Jumble Gill which drains Binsey's northern flank.

The hill is largely grass and heather, with only one significant outcrop of rock, West Crag. Flanking the eastern slopes of the fell is a thin belt of mixed woodland and a further plantation sits below West Crag.