Rigg Beck is also the name of a famous dwelling – the Purple House[1] – placed where the Beck crosses the Keskadale road, and which formed an excellent starting point for exploring the fells.[2]
Source and course
Rigg Beck arises at the top of the high pass between
Ard Crags and
Causey Pike, of the latter of which it forms one boundary.[3] The beck flows eventually into
Newlands Beck.[4]
The path alongside Rigg Beck forms an attractive pedestrian route between
Newlands Valley and Buttermere.[5]
Literary associations
The Scottish poet
Margot Adamson wrote of the beck “Young as the grass that fringes where it sprays,/Old as the clefts from whence it takes its flight”.[6]
The Purple House (Rigg Beck) was associated with poets like
Sylvia Plath and
Ted Hughes.