Blencathra was taken off the market by its owners. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Five charities will benefit from funds raised for an unsuccessful bid to buy a Lake District mountain.

The community group Friends of Blencathra was formed when the Earl of Lonsdale said he was putting Blencathra up for sale in 2014 for £2.1m to help pay an inheritance tax bill.

But the landowner decided to take the mountain, also known as Saddleback, off the market, having found alternative means of meeting his obligations.

The Friends of Blencathra was eventually left with £100,000 in its kitty after refunding donors who requested reimbursement.

Five local organisations: Keswick Mountain Rescue Team; the National Trust and the Fix the Fells project; Friends of the Lake District; Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the Mountain Heritage Trust will receive an equal share of the residual cash.

The five charities have already each received £4,000 and will now be given a further £16,000.

The Charity Commission authorised the arrangement.

Dave Wheeler, posting on Facebook, said the organisation will now be wound up and the company formed to handle the money and potential purchase will be dissolved.

The fell, in the northern Lake District, was described by author Alfred Wainwright as ‘the mountaineers’ mountain’. It was the subject of film-maker Terry Abraham’s acclaimed Life of a Mountain: Blencathra.

The land remains in the ownership of a Lonsdale family trust.