High Cup Gill

'Gill' is a word of Norse origin meaning narrow valley or ravine whilst 'beck' signifies a stream; both occur widely in the hills of northern England.

As seen in the classic view southwest over the valley into the Vale of Eden from its head at High Cup Nick, it is considered one of the finest natural features in northern England.

[2][3] High Cup Scar is formed by a near-horizontal outcrop of the Whin Sill, a dolerite intrusion of late Carboniferous age which underlies much of the North Pennines and northeast England.

[4] The country rock into which the sill is intruded is the Alston Formation, a part of the Yoredale Group of multiple layers of limestones, sandstones, siltstones and mudstones.

[5][6] The Pennine Way skirts the valley on its northern side by a traditional route known as Narrow Gate as it runs from Forest in Teesdale west via Cauldron Snout and Maize Beck to Dufton.