Great Dun Fell, Cumbria (13. Hollow (site of Manley’s hut))

However, in 1937 he received a research grant and was able to establish a weather recording station close to the summit of Great Dun Fell. This hollow was once the site of Manley’s weather station. A wooden hut, measuring just 8 feet by 6 feet, was put up in a small hollow left over from previous mining operations, where it would hopefully not blow over. It was also at the highest point of the escarpment where the Helm Wind was supposed to be most frequent. The hut was equipped with two thermographs to measure temperature continuously, thermometers for temperature measurements on the days Manley visited the station, a barograph to measure pressure (similar to a barometer), and a portable cup anemometer to measure wind speed and direction. In his years of measuring at Moor House, the extreme weather had interfered with the running of the station’s instruments. A letter from the Armstrongs noted that “The pen has been misbehaving itself again, I am saying the pen but it is the clock which stops, some days it is very bad to keep going.” Here too at the summit, Manley faced difficulties in keeping the instruments operational under the severe winter conditions at altitude. Despite the difficulties, meteorological observations were kept from 1937 to 1939. This was the first series of mountain observations to become available in England and remains the longest unbroken mountain record. Directions to stop 14 Follow the road downhill for about 750 metres along the road. Stop when you reach the junction with the Pennine Way.