Bell Hill, Eskdale

To the north of the church (St Catharine’s) is a rock called Bell Hill, where the chapel bell is said to have been hung. It is more likely a relic of the old fire-worship of Beltan, of which our pagan ancestors were so fond. [The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England by Robert Charles Hope (1893)]

According to William Hutchinson’s ‘History of the County of Cumberland’ (1794), There is a tradition that the chapel bell, hung in an oak tree, on an eminence on the north side of the chapel; and this notion is supported by the name of Bell hill; as there is no other evidence, we are rather inclined to believe, that this hill was the place of the Bel-teing, from the many remnants of antiquity, which we have before noted.