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Tilberthwaite, Greenburn Beck, Great Carrs, Levers Water, Cumbria.
[ 16.4 km] Thu 27 May 2010

NY 3064 0100
Considering the warm weather a few days ago it was quite cold when I reached the deserted car park at Tilberthwaite Gill. I set off along the road to High Tilberthwaite farm then took the very stony and rough track over to Little Langdale. It was overcast but there were still nice views.
Langdale Fell from Little Langdale

Aircraft wreckage below Great Carrs

One of the best things about this track is that when you reach the summit there are wonderful views down into Little Langdale and across to the main Langdales. Today’s main objective is to check the remaining wreckage of Halifax LL505 which crashed on Great Carrs in 1944.
I turned left to follow the track up towards the Greenburn Mine area. Through the main gate I turned right to follow the path up towards Wet Side Edge.


Large piece of wreckage below Great Carrs
Rolls Royce Merlin engine below Great Carrs

This got me high above the valley and provided a good view point for the northern face of Wetherlam. I wanted to have a good look at it through the binoculars as a disused mine working is shown on the map above Long Crag level. I’d tried to find it last weekend but couldn’t. I could see what looked like the entrance in a cleft so its verification will have to wait for another time. I left the main ridge and followed the contour along to the left to join the top end of Greenburn Beck and the steep sided amphitheatre at the head of the valley. This is the area where the main parts of the Halifax wreckage rests. I soon came to the Rolls Royce Merlin engine lying in the beck.
One of the props and gearing

Halifax LL505 FD-S crashed on Great Carrs in the Lake District on the night of the 22nd of October 1944 whilst on a night navigation exercise from Topcliffe in Yorkshire.


A Handley Page Halifax

The crew. All died in the crash
Pilot - F/O John A Johnston RCAF (C/29783), aged 27, of Carp, Ontario, Canada.
Nav - F/O Francis A Bell RCAF (J/39888), aged 33, of Hampton, New Brunswick, Canada.
P/O Robert N Whitley RCAF (J/38243), aged 20, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Sgt Harvey E Pyche RCAF (R/225354), aged 21, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Sgt William B Ferguson RAFVR (1826294), aged 19, of Caldercruix, Lanarkshire,
Sgt Calvin G Whittingstall RCAF (R/198207), aged 20, of Mount Dennis, Ontario, Canada.
Sgt Donald F Titt RCAF (R/271259), aged 19, of Rockwood, Ontario, Canada.
Sgt George Riddoch RCAF (R/259938), aged 20, of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

A Rolls Royce Merlin engine from
the crash site of Halifax LL505
This one is at the Ruskin Museum, Coniston.
What the engine used to look like.

The The Rolls-Royce Merlin Liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero was normally used to power the Avro Lancaster, de Havilland Mosquito, Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. The Halifax was usually powered by the Bristol Hercules radial engine but this one had 4 * Rolls Royce Merlin engines with 4 bladed propellers.

Swirl How in cloud

Further up and to the right are large sections of wing and two of the four bladed prop centres. I now took the direct and tricky climb up to the ridge at Great Carrs. It’s not for the faint hearted and I wouldn’t recommend it as the best way up. It was getting towards lunch time so I tried to find some shelter from the wind, with little success. To make matters worse the temperature dropped to 3degC and it started to snow! It’s a good job I’d packed an extra jersey and gloves. When I reached Swirl How the cloud had descended and the wind was blowing hard.

I didn’t hang around but started down ‘Prison Band’ towards Swirl Hawse. Thankfully there was some shelter and it was nice descending the path to Levers Water. I met a couple coming up who asked me about the route ahead. I continued down to the disused Coniston Copper mines then over the footbridge at Coppermines Cottages. I climbed up to the old miners path over Hole Rake and Yewdale Beck where I followed the south path back down to the car park at Tilberthwaite. By the time I returned it was almost full and many people were about. The weather had improved considerably.
An old mine bogey

NE view from Hole Rake


Tilberthwaite slate quarry