Aisgill

Aisgill is the southernmost of the hamlets that comprise the parish of Mallerstang in the English county of Cumbria. It is on the B6259 road, at the head of Mallerstang dale, just before the boundary between Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

The highest waterfall on the River Eden, Hellgill Force, with a drop of about convert|20|m|abbr=on is just to the north, at gbmapping|SD779966. The river itself rises (at first as Red Gill beck, later becoming Hell Gill beck) below Hugh Seat in the peat bogs above here. It finally becomes the river Eden after merging with the Ais Gill beck, which flows down from Wild Boar Fell.

Aisgill is at both a county and a natural geographical boundary. It is at the watershed (sometimes called "the watershed of England") from which the Eden flows north towards the Irish Sea via the Solway Firth, while the Ure flows south towards Wensleydale, and eventually into the North Sea.

Swarth Fell frames the western side of the head of Mallerstang dale, and from Aisgill there is a view along the steep, narrow valley, with Mallerstang Edge and High Seat framing the eastern side. But the view at Aisgill is dominated by the great table-top bulk of Wild Boar Fell, to the south-west. The Settle-Carlisle Railway reaches its highest point at "Aisgill Summit" convert|356|m|abbr=on|0; and there is a small viaduct where the line crosses Ais Gill beck. There have been three notable rail accidents nearby: the Hawes Junction rail crash in 1910, one in 1913 and most recently in 1995.

External links & References

* [http://www.mallerstang.com/visit.html A Virtual Walk through Mallerstang]
* [http://www.mallerstang.com/pm-settle-carlisle.htm Commemoration of those who died on this section of the Settle-Carlisle railway]

A. Wainwright, "Wainwright in the Limestone Dales", Guild Publishing, 1991 (pages 16-17)