Drumlins of the Eden Valley

Abstract

Where in England do you think you can find more than 600 small oval hills, all roughly the same size and shape, in the space of 300 square kilometres? The answer is in Edendale, south of the river Eamont, in the Eden Valley of Cumbria. The hills are so regular that, viewed from above, they look like eggs in a basket, hence the term ‘basket of eggs’ landscape commonly used to describe such clusters. Most of them in this area have steeper southern ends, elongated tails to the north, and trend in a SE-NW direction, parallel to the valley sides. They are called drumlins, from the Gaelic word druim, meaning mound or rounded hill.