In 1992, hill walker Alan Dawson published his book The Relative Hills of Britain. Dawson focused his attention on the relative height of hills, regardless of their overall height, and compiled a list of hills with a topographic prominence of at least 500 feet (or roughly 150 metres).
Prominence, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the minimum distance you have to descend in order to climb to somewhere higher.
Dawson called the hills in his new list "Marilyns", a pun on the list of Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet, which are known as "Munros" after Sir Hugh Munro who compiled the initial list. Dawson's list now contains 1,557 hills in England, Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man (a further 454 hills meeting the criteria have been identified in a separate publication for the island of Ireland).
Arnside Knott, at a mighty elevation of 159m, wasn't on Dawson's original list of Marilyns. It was added in a 2004-5 update after the hill's prominence was found to be 150m after all. This makes it the lowest Marilyn in England and the fifth lowest overall. It's also the lowest on the mainland, with three of the four below it on the list being the high points of small islands, with the fourth (Crogearraidh na Thobha) located on a peninsula on North Uist.
Low doesn't always mean accessible, but in Arnside Knott's case, it does. You can drive most of the way up and there are a plethora of paths from Arnside Village up towards the summit. The actual summit has no real views, as the forlorn-looking trig pillar is now entirely surrounded by trees and bushes - the main viewpoint, to the west of the summit at a slightly lower elevation, has a fantastic vista on a clear day from Morecambe Bay to the viaduct over the Kent Estuary, with the high fells well seen into the distance.
I had planned to undertake a larger loop along the coastline and through the woodland to the west of the village before doubling back to climb Arnside Knott itself, but the highest of tides put paid to that option. Instead, I headed upwards after a brief stroll along the promenade. The Knott might be small for a hill, but the flat coastal plains and the huge expanse of Morecambe Bay make it a terrific viewpoint nonetheless. I’m reluctant to recommend a route because the summit woodland just lends itself to the joys of exploration for an hour or so!
So what's next? The second smallest English Marilyn is Cliffe Hill in East Sussex. Perhaps when the coronavirus restrictions allow such travel, I'll give it a go…
Looking west from the Arnside Knott viewpoint
The Kent Estuary
Peeking south through the woodland towards Heysham
Arnside Knott trig pillar