Qualla: Nine Standards Rigg https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:24 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Nine Standards Rigg https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg Nine Standards Rigg: Introduction https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg/ Photo credit Oliver Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0. Nobody knows who built them, or why. Nine massive stone cairns stand in a line near the top of Hartley Fell at 650 metres above the Cumbrian moors, some originally more than four metres high, weathered by centuries of wind and rain. The locals call them the Nine Standards, and they have given their name to the entire fell. Theories abound. Boundary markers between old Westmorland and Swaledale? Decoys arranged to fool invading Scots into thinking an army camped on the ridge? A medieval folly built simply because someone wanted to? The cairns keep their secret.

Read more: Nine Standards Rigg on Qualla

Image: Oliver Dixon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/gcwm-nine-standards-rigg-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Nine Standards Rigg: Where the Waters Divide https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg/ Photo credit John Illingworth, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Nine Standards stand on a watershed, that invisible line where a falling raindrop chooses its sea. Water draining north-west feeds Scandal Beck and joins the River Eden, flowing eventually to the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea. Water draining south-east becomes Whitsundale Be...

Read more: Nine Standards Rigg on Qualla

Image: John Illingworth | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/gcwm-nine-standards-rigg-where-the-waters-divide.mp3 0:06 2 full Nine Standards Rigg: On the Coast to Coast https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg/ Photo credit Kreuzschnabel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Alfred Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk passes right by the cairns on its long traverse from St Bees on the Irish Sea to Robin Hood's Bay on the North Sea. Walkers grinding eastward out of Kirkby Stephen toward Keld see the Standards appear on the ridge ahead like sentries waitin...

Read more: Nine Standards Rigg on Qualla

Image: Kreuzschnabel | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/gcwm-nine-standards-rigg-on-the-coast-to-coast.mp3 0:06 3 full Nine Standards Rigg: The Long View https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg/ Photo credit Oliver Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0. On a clear day, the view rewards the climb extravagantly. Cross Fell and Great Dun Fell mark the northwest horizon, the highest summits of the Pennines crowned by the Great Dun Fell radar station's white golf ball. Wild Boar Fell and the rolling Howgills sit south-west, fells wit...

Read more: Nine Standards Rigg on Qualla

Image: Oliver Dixon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/gcwm-nine-standards-rigg-the-long-view.mp3 0:06 4 full Nine Standards Rigg: Mystery Above the Eden https://qualla.com/nine-standards-rigg/ Photo credit Oliver Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0. The historic record is silent on origin. No charter mentions building them, no chronicler records who carried the stones uphill or when. Some were originally substantial structures, taller than a person, requiring real effort and intention. Others may be later additions, repaired...

Read more: Nine Standards Rigg on Qualla

Image: Oliver Dixon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/w/m/nine-standards-rigg-wp/gcwm-nine-standards-rigg-mystery-above-the-eden.mp3 0:06 5 full