Hugh Seat

High Seat seen from across the valley

Height: 689m (2,260ft)

Prominence: 24m (79ft)

Region: Yorkshire Dales

Classifications: Nuttall

Summit feature: Large cairn

Times climbed: 1

Related trip report:

The border fence on the summit

Hugh Seat is a high point above Black Fell Moss, an extensive area of peat bog drained by Red Gill Beck, which is the source of the River Eden. At this "watershed of England" two other great rivers, the Ure and the Swale, also rise within a kilometre of the Eden.

The old name for this peak was Hugh Seat Morvill or sometimes Morvil Hill. Near the summit there is a column of cut stones, known as "Lady's Pillar", and the inscription AP1664 can just be made out - for Anne Pembroke, Lady Anne Clifford's married name. The pillar was erected in 1664 to commemorate Sir Hugh de Morville, Lady Anne's predecessor as Lord of the Manor of Mallerstang.

The border between the counties of Cumbria and North Yorkshire is marked near the summit by a fence, which is intended to stop sheep which are "heafed" (trained to stay in a certain area without the need for fences) straying beyond their allotted common land.

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