The last British Ice Sheet: A review of the evidence utilised in the ...

northern edge of the Lake District. Arthurton and Wadge (1981) have mapped deeply incised and densely
spaced meltwater channels in the Penrith area. They are best developed on the western slopes of the Pennines
in the vicinity of Melmerby Fell and stretch out across the Vale of Eden where they are associated with long
discontinuous eskers. Hollingworth (1931) mapped a series of elongate sand and gravel accumulations,
which he interpreted as icemarginal positions in the Eden valley (west side of the river), although these could
easily be subglacial. He further mapped lobes of ice receding from the east Lakeland fells and some lobes
receding into the Lakes. On the northern margins of the Pennine massif, Trotter (1929) identified small
recessional moraines in East and West Allendale documenting the retreat of Pennine upland ice.
Early mapping by Jowett and Charlesworth (1929) depicted ice margin recessional positions in the west
Pennines based upon marginal meltwater channels. They also mapped lakes but these are not everywhere
verified by deposits. Their easternmost glacier margin is marked by the upper limit of “extraneous drift”. To
the north, Jowett (1914) had earlier mapped ice recession again using meltwater channels although most of
these were referred to as lake spillways rather than lateral features. Local depositional forms identified by
Jowett and Charlesworth (1929) included kame–moraine belts, specifically an example at Whaley Bridge
where an ice lobe occupied the Goyt Valley. This feature was also mentioned but not mapped by Stevenson
and Gaunt (1971), who additionally document an ice-contact delta along the same ice margin at Buxworth.
They go on to suggest that the Rowarth valley was blocked to produce a lake with shorelines during ice
recession from the area, but again no maps were produced. Around Stockport, the eastern margin of former
glacier ice was partially mapped by Taylor et al. (1963) using a drift limit at heights of at least 1400 ft on the
southern Pennine foot slopes. They also mapped recessional margins based upon pockets of glacilacustrine
sediments and meltwater channels. The largest lake produced at this time was Lake Tytherington,
documented by locally widespread current-bedded sand (classified as “Middle Sands”). Taylor et al. (1963)
refer to an Irish Sea Readvance but there is no morphological evidence of this, only ice marginal glacifluvial
deposits documenting ice retreat northwards. Johnson (1965a,b) mapped the upper limit of glacial erratics on
the west Pennine slopes in addition to a lower altitude limit of “boulder clay” (ages unknown but presumably
last glaciation). Johnson’s mapping also includes Lake Tytherington and numerous meltwater channels
(presumably mostly lateral), which document the recession of ice in this region and in the Rossendales.
In their recent summary, Aitkenhead et al. (1991) mapped some major moraine systems in Lancashire,
namely the Eagland Hill Ridge, the Skitham Trashy Hill Ridge and the Kirkham Ridge. The latter feature was
referred to as the “Kirkham End Moraine” by Gresswell (1967), who noted that the feature merged westward
into a wide belt of hummocky moraine (Fig. 7). Longworth (1985) reported extensive exposures in the
Kirkham Moraine to be complex interdigitated tills and stratified sediments. He linked the sedimentary
structures to supraglacial processes and stagnation. A lateral moraine was depicted by Gresswell (1967)
along the western flank of the Bowland Fells, a feature that merges into the hummocky moraine at the east
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