Blencathra was put on the market to help pay an inheritance tax bill
A community group said its offer has been accepted for a Lake District mountain that was put up for sale by its owner.
The Friends of Blencathra announced on Facebook that trustees acting for the Earl of Lonsdale wish to proceed with the group’s offer for the fell.
Lord Lonsdale put the mountain, less commonly also known as Saddleback, on the market to help pay an inheritance tax bill.
The original guide price for the mountain was £2.1m but the Friends, formed to try to buy the fell for community use, have not disclosed their offer.
The Friends’ chairman Debbie Cosgrove said: “On 26 March, we met with the trustees to further discuss the purchase of the mountain.
“We have been advised that ‘the trustees wish to proceed with our offer’ and that ‘in principle, they would like to proceed to the next stage.”
Ms Cosgrove added: “I am sure that while we are all keen to see the final papers signed, it is not as straightforward a matter as selling a house, however much we might wish it to be.”
The fell, described by author Alfred Wainwright as ‘a mountaineer’s mountain’ is being sold by its owner Lord Lonsdale, to pay off part of an inheritance tax bill of £9m.
The Friends have received a pledge of financial support from the company that owns major outdoor brand Berghaus.
Mountaineering elder statesman Sir Chris Bonington, who lives close to Blencathra, joined members of the group and supporters in a walk from Keswick to Threlkeld at the foot of the fell last July.
Alfred Wainwright called the 868m (2,848ft) fell a ‘mountaineer’s mountain; one of the grandest objects in Lakeland’.
It has also been the site of 11 walkers’ deaths on a notorious accident spot.
If the Friends are ultimately successful with their bid, they won’t even have the right to graze animals on the fell, as it’s common land, with commoners having the right to graze 5,471 ewes, 202 shearlings, 732 hoggs and 200 lambs. Selling agents H&H Land and Property helpfully added: ‘Some of the sheep rights can be substituted for cattle or ponies’.
Sharp Edge is the scene of numerous falls
The fell is notorious for the tricky grade-one scramble along Sharp Edge, for which Keswick Mountain Rescue Team has a separate page detailing the sad toll of deaths and numerous serious injuries including broken backs that have occurred since 1961.
Virtually the whole fell is open access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, meaning walkers can exercise their right to roam at most times.
A note on the land agents’ website simply says Blencathra is ‘under offer’.
Maggie Gallimore
09 April 2015Mountains don't belong to individuals. If Lord Lonsdale thinks he owns it, it is because some ancestor of his appropriated it in an aggressive manner centuries ago, or did something to please the reigning monarch and had it gifted to him (the monarch, of course, assuming that it was his to gift in the first place, because monarchs were like that then - they had delusions of grandeur). It's time these outdated assumptions were revised. Much of the Lake District was saved from this sort of travesty by Beatrix Potter, but even she had to do it by buying it and then giving it to the National Trust.
Eleanor Bull
09 April 2015Lord Dickhead needed to forfeit his family home to pay his sodding inheritance tax - not put a mountain up for sale that already belongs to us.
The 'friends' group behind this purchase are sponsored by Berghaus. Yes, the clothing label.
This is NOT protesting, this is THE WORST PANDERING TO CAPITALISM I have ever see in my life.
I am deeply disgusted with all concerned.
Please discuss.
Eleanor Bull
09 April 2015Lord Lonsdale needed to forfeit his family home to pay his sodding inheritance tax - not put a mountain up for sale that already belongs to us.
The 'friends' group behind this purchase are sponsored by Berghaus. Yes, the clothing label.
This is NOT protesting, this is THE WORST PANDERING TO CAPITALISM I have ever see in my life.
I am deeply disgusted with all concerned.
Please discuss.
Marianne Birkby
10 April 2015im only surprised SELLAFIELD hasn't stepped in to "save " the mountain, like they did with The Beacon, now a propaganda museum. SELLAFIELD provide Mountain Rescue teams with staff and resources....the only volunteers who have an employer willing to pay time and expenses (out of the public purse) for the excellent PR of nuclear workers saving walkers on mountains!
John Gillham
10 April 2015I think this is good news indeed. If the Earl of Lonsdale needs to sell that is his decision to make just as it is for the rest of us to sell our houses or property when we feel fit. Let's be glad Berghaus was willing to put up the money and that the 'friends' cared enough.
Debbie Cosgrove
11 April 2015Eleanor. Your views on Lord Lonsdale are very personal to you and I do not feel appropriate for us to comment on. However as you were so kind as to invite us to 'discuss' then can we at least get your facts correct? Berghaus have not sponsored us in the way you suggest. We have had donations large and small from various individuals and businesses. At no time has Berghaus or any other person who have donated, tried to influence the Friends of Blencathra in any way, shape or form. If you want to play the capitalism card you may have to attack another group and company. I have been impressed by the integrity of all involved and I do not see how you can justify your random claim of capitalism. This is about community and that is inclusive, not exclusive.