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Across the Lune Valley from the top of Firbank (Walk 14)

Origins and landscape

The waters of the Lune

Identifying the origin of any river depends upon the rules by which you want to play – highest point, longest course, farthest from the sea and so on. An unambiguous answer is rare, and the River Lune is no exception.

The first reference to its name on the map is the hamlet of Newbiggin-on-Lune, where the river is held to bubble up from the ancient and holy perennial spring of St Helen’s Well. Other authorities point out that the stream below the village is called Sandwath Beck, and only beyond its confluence with Weasdale Beck, a mile downstream at Wath, does it become the Lune. Yet by the time its reaches Newbiggin, Sandwath Beck is already into its third name, having started life out as Dale Gill and then become Greenside Beck. Up the hill behind Newbiggin, Dale Gill issues from a couple of uncertain springs, just below the summit of Green Bell, and it is from here that longest meandering course to the sea can be traced.