A REMOTE Eden Valley tarn is to be given a name in tribute to legendary fellwalker Alfred Wainwright.

The Ordnance Survey has confirmed the new name - Swarth Fell Tarn - will be reflected on its mapping database, to the delight of AW aficionados.

The "small, nameless sheet of water" is located in Mallerstang parish, between Wild Boar Fell and Swarth Fell.

Guidebook author David Pitt, a long-time admirer of AW, told the Gazette that naming the tarn felt like a fitting way to mark last year's extension of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to incorporate Mallerstang - "and what better than to link it with a tribute to Alfred Wainwright?" he told the Gazette.

Mr Pitt, chairman of the Pennine Journey Supporters Club, said the naming of Swarth Fell Tarn had gained the support of Mallerstang Parish Meeting and landowner Hugh Brown, as well as the Wainwright Society, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, the Yorkshire Dales Society and the Kirkby Stephen Walkers Are Welcome group.

"The name will be added as a tribute to Alfred Wainwright given his affection for the area and his love of maps and also to mark the recent expansion of the Yorkshire Dales National Park into Mallerstang," said long-distance walker Mr Pitt.

The naming of Swarth Fell Tarn, above Mallerstang, might not have got off the ground without cartographer Ron Scholes, who was able to confirm AW's "real love of the area", said Mr Pitt.

Mr Scholes became a friend of Wainwright following correspondence that started in 1979 and they remained so until AW's death in 1991. Their friendship was founded on a shared love of the countryside of northern England especially the Pennines, the Howgill Fells and the Eden Valley.

Mr Pitt told the Gazette: "I wondered if there might be a consensus locally for some kind of 'memorial' to Alfred Wainwright by the people of an area close to where AW lived and for which he cared immensely. If such a consensus were to arise, then what kind of 'memorial’ would be appropriate?

"I had been familiar with the unnamed tarn between Wild Boar Fell and Swarth Fell for quite some time, mentioned it to Ron and learned from him not only of AW's love of the area but his fascination for that unnamed pool. Might it be possible to have this unnamed tarn given a name?"

Mr Scholes shared memories of his and Wainwright's discussion about the tarn, describing it as a "brooding little stretch of water where its dark, peaty surface is constantly being ruffled by the wind blowing through the fellside gap".

As Mr Pitt explained, the tarn has a particular relevance to the Pennine Journey route as it passes through Mallerstang parish on its way to Garsdale Head "before returning and passing Uldale House and Needle House – in a sense ‘bracketing’ the tarn in question – on its way to Cautley and Sedbergh".

Alfred Wainwright, who died in 1991, achieved fame with his illustrated Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, compiled between 1952 and 1966.

His day job was Kendal borough treasurer and he was also honorary curator of Kendal Museum, where his instantly-recognisable handwriting can still be found on various artefacts.