• Alston
• Allonby And Aspatria
• Ambleside And Troutbeck
• Appleby In Westmoreland
• Askam In Furness
• Barrow In Furness
• Bassenthwaite
• Borrowdale
• Bowness On Windermere
• Brough
• Buttermere
• Brampton
• Broughton In Furness
• Carlisle
• Cartmel
• Cleator Moor
• Cockermouth
• Coniston
• Dalston
• Dalton In Furness
• Dent
• Grange Over Sands
• Grasmere
• Greenodd
• Grizedale
• Hawkshead
• Kendal
• Keswick
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• Wasdale And Gosforth
• Kirkby Stephen
• Longtown
• Loweswater
• Maryport
• Melmerby
• Milnthorpe
• Nenthead
• Newby Bridge
• Orton
• Penrith
• Pooley Bridge
• Ravenglass And Eskdale
• Sedbergh
• Seascale
• Shap
• Silloth And Solway
• St Bees
• Skiddaw
• Staveley
• Tebay
• The Duddon Valley
• Threlkeld
• Ulverston
• Vale Of Lorton
• Wasdale
• Wetheral
• Whitehaven
• Wigton
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Mountain valleys in the Lake District

At the heads of mountain valleys, glacial ice plucked out rounded, steep sided hollows known as corries or combs on slopes facing the north and east. Blencathra has examples of narrow  ridges formed where two or more corries occur. Ice over deepened Grains Gill, at the head of the Seathwaite Valley , creating a fine example of a 'hanging valley'. Water from Grains Gill tumbles as a series of attractive falls to form the spectacularly deep gill, an old north country term for a Shaped, water carved valley. In Sour Milk Gill, a striking feature near Seathwaite, water from Gillercomb seethes as it pours down the fell side. Ice borne rocks, known as 'erratic litter certain areas. As a glacier ebbed, haps of maternal known as moraines were formed. Examples f these might be seen update from the village of Crosthwaite. A shattering of rock by hard frosts led to the formation of extensive screeds.

The effect of glaciations on the volcanic rocks of the Butter mere side of Hoister House is dramatic, with the high edges that are steep and craggy and lower slopes liberally covered by screen. The abrasive power of ice not only produced a valley with the characteristic Unshaped but exposed three parallel veins of slate on both sides of the valley. Each vein lies at an angle of 30° to the horizontal. The slate, originally laid down in water many millions of years ago, was subsequently compressed to create a fine grain quality that was exploited through quarrying and mining.

Where ice bit deeply, a basin was formed that filled with water and became what we now know as Derwentwater . The large tarn at remote Watendlath  was created in such a way, water thundering down the fellside to be dammed by a bar of hard rock, which gives the buildings of the hamlet a durable foundation, and continuing its boisterous way to tumble again at the falls of Lodore, which feed Derwentwater. The glacial ice melted about 8,000 years ago. In immediate post-glacial times, Borrowable would have had a string of shallow lakes. A similar effect occurs temporarily after protracted rain, such as in July 1966 when the Seathwaite Valley held four feet (120cm) of water and low lying stretches of the main dale were swamped.

The quarrying of Lakeland slate has had a considerable effect on the appearance of the landscape at Hoister House, between Borrowable and Butter mere. At Seathwaite , graphite was mined for half a millennium. Known locally as 'wad', the graphite had formed in 'pipes' near a dyke of the igneous rock diorite which, in this area, extended through an area of volcanic rocks. Skiddaw has yielded zinc and lead.

From the Newlands Valley  have come many a king's ransom in copper as well as lead. Carrack Fell , which dominates the nursery stretches of the River Caldew, is a complex mass of igneous intrusions and, as such, was extensively mined until quite recent times. Minute traces of gold have been found in the river bed. In the Glenderaterra Valley a lead mine was operated with only moderate success for much of the nineteenth century and as late as the 1920s.

For an insight into Lakeland mines and minerals, visit the Thrilled Quarry and Mining Museum, which is sign posted from the A66. Here is a comprehensive collection of mineral specimens, photographs and artifacts. A section of mine has been recreated for the benefit of visitors, who can tour it under the leadership of a knowledgeable guide who wears mining garb, including clogs .At Hoister House, a visitor centre may be visited for information about slate and its extraction. From March until October, several times a day, a guided tour into the slate mine is available.

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