The Cheviot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Cheviot |
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The Cheviot in snow
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 815 m (2,674 ft) |
| Prominence | 556 m (1,824 ft) |
| Parent peak | Broad Law |
| Listing | Marilyn, Hewitt, County Top, Nuttall |
| Naming | |
| English translation | Having the quality of a ridge |
| Language of name | Common Brittonic |
| Geography | |
 The Cheviot
Location in Northumberland
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| Location | Cheviot Hills, England |
| OS grid | NT909205 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 74/75 |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano (extinct) |
The Cheviot is the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills in the far north of England, only 1+1⁄4 miles (2 kilometres) from the Scottish border. An extinct volcano of the Caledonian period, it is the last major peak on the Pennine Way, if travelling from south to north, before the descent into Kirk Yetholm.
Etymology
The name Cheviot, which was first documented in 1181 as Chiuiet, is probably of Brittonic origin. The name involves the element *ceμ-, meaning "a ridge", and the nominal suffix -ed, which in place-names can mean "having the quality of".
Geology
The Cheviot is an extinct stratovolcano, eruptive during the Caledonian orogeny (490-390 Ma). The mountain is heavily eroded, and originally may have been as high as 10,000 ft (3,000 m), with a diameter of perhaps of 37 miles (60km). Volcanic vents may have been located along the faults at Harthope and Thirl Moor. The earliest volcanic activity in the area was violent and explosive, with exposed ash and ignimbrite showing pyroclastic flows to have reached Coquetdale and Ingram. Later activity consisted of andesitic, trachyte and rhyolitic lava extrusion, which abnormally for such lavas, covered an area as large as 600km2.
The summit of the Cheviot is very flat.
It is covered with an extensive peat bog up to 6 ft (2 m) deep; the Northumberland National Park Authority have laid down stone slabs on the main access footpath to prevent erosion damage to the peat and to make the approach to the summit safer for walkers.
Human history
Flattened remnants of a neolithic henge monument have been uncovered at nearby Hethpool. The stone circle may date to around 2500 BC, and is hypothesized to have been a ritualistic gateway to the mountain.
Harthope Burn, which cuts a deep valley on the flanks of The Cheviot, marked the boundary between the reivers of the English East and Middle Marches in the 16th and 17th century.
During World War II, The Cheviot and the hills surrounding it were the site of aircraft crashes which claimed the lives both of Allied and German airmen. A local shepherd John Dagg and his sheepdog rescued a pilot following an RAF crash in 1942. Dagg also rescued survivors of a crash in December 1944, which killed 2 members of a 9-man US Air Force crew. Aircraft wreckage is still seen on the mountain today.
Access
Other than the route via the Pennine Way, most routes up the Cheviot start from the Harthope Burn side to the northeast, which provides the nearest access by road. The summit is around 3 mi (5 km) from the road-end at Langleeford; across the valley to the east is the rounded peak of Hedgehope. There are routes following the ridges above either side of the valley, and a route that sticks to the valley floor until it climbs to the summit of the Cheviot from the head of the valley.
Although the Pennine Way does a 2 mi (3 km) out-and-back detour to the Cheviot, many walkers who come this way omit it, since the stage (the most northerly) is 29 mi (47 km) long.
View
The view is obscured greatly by the flatness of the summit plateau. Nevertheless, on a clear day the following are visible (from west, clockwise); Broad Law, Moorfoot Hills, Pentland Hills, the Ochils, Lammermuir Hills, Ros Hill, Long Crag, Urra Moor, Tosson Hill, Burnhope Seat, Cross Fell, Helvellyn, Scafell Pike, Skiddaw, Sighty Crag, Peel Fell, and Queensberry.
Subsidiary SMC summits
| Summit | Height (m) | Listing |
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| Cairn Hill West Top [Hangingstone Hill] | 743 | DT,CoH,Bg,xN |
