Some Mountains, Hills and Summits of Great Britain

These pages feature some of the many mountains, hills, fells, summits and high points in Britain. The criteria for inclusion are that (1) I've climbed the hill in question, and (2) that I've taken a photo at the summit. Wherever possible there is also a picture of the hill from a neighbouring summit or adjacent valley, or a picture of the view from the top.

See the home page for an explanation of the status terms (Munro, Corbett, Marylin, Hewitt, et al).

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Gowbarrow Fell

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 407218
Height: 1578 ft (481 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: Gowbarrow is a sprawling area of rough, hummocky moorland laying northwest of Ullswater and east of the Matterdale road. The famous waterfall of Aira Force lays at its southwest corner by Park Brow Foot. From here a path runs around the south and east sides of the fell to a point known as the "shooting box" from where the summit can best be tackled. A great many sketchy paths run over the fell, but their exploration is best left to a sunny day as Gowbarrow is a sombre and unwelcoming place in bad weather.
Great Calva

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 290311
Height: 2264 ft (690 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: Great Calva is a prominent conical hill, liberally covered in heather and standing at the head of the Glenderaterra valley between Skiddaw and Blencathra. Part of the Caldbeck or "Back O' Skiddaw" massif, it is quite remote and is perhaps best approached from the north via the neighbouring fell of Knott. The thin paths through the heather on its southern slopes are more easily found from above than below. The summit is very rocky and quite untypical of the rest of the fell. A striking feature of the view is that Great Calva looks straight down the Glenderaterra valley and in turn straight along the Thirlmere valley towards Dunmail Raise. Otherwise, vast empty moors and the great bulks of Skiddaw and Blenathra dominate the panorama.


Great Dun Fell

Location: North Pennines, Cumbria
Grid Ref: NY 710321
Height: 2782 ft (848 m)
Status: Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: High on the Pennines, Great Dun Fell is home to the Civil Aviation Authority's air traffic control radar. The summit radomes are visible for a good forty miles around and many see them as a visual intrusion, but of course installations like this have to be built somewhere. Great Dun Fell lays on the route of the Pennine Way, which is the usual approach, though it could also be climbed by the private road to the radar station (the highest surfaced road in Britain). The views are mainly of wild moorland and other Pennine tops. On good days the Lakeland fells can be seen to the south west.
Great Lingy Hill

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 310340
Height: 2021 ft (616 m)
Status: Nuttall(?)

Notes: A minor top of Caldbeck's High Pike, pathless and covered in heather. Seen from High Pike itself it's just a gentle swell in the moorland a mile or so to the southwest. The only feature of interest is the "men at work" sign that forms part of the cairn, and no doubt that will be temporary. The hill's status as a Nuttall appears to be in doubt, as it's featured in the original book but no longer appears on the Nuttall's website. It has perhaps been deleted.


Great Mell Fell

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 396254
Height: 1762 ft (537 m)
Status: Wainwright, Marilyn

Notes: Great Mell Fell is untypical of the Lakeland fells, being an isolated grassy dome rising from the pastoral country east of Matterdale. In Wainwright's day the fell was part of an army firing range and access was difficult, but the fell is now owned by the National Trust and there are no restrictions. The fell is largely pathless, however. Its flanks are quite steep and the least difficult way up is probably by the eastern slopes, which are partially wooded. From the grassy bald of the summit there are splendid views of the Fairfield and Helvellyn groups as well as nearby Blencathra.


Great Rigg

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 355104
Height: 2513 ft (766 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: Fairfield's immediate neighbour on its southwest ridge, Great Rigg stands high above Grasmere. The fell is normally visited as part of the Fairfield horseshoe, and is but a kilometre of simple grassy walking from its parent fell. The ridge continues southwards to Heron Pike and Great Rigg also has a southwest ridge that includes the outlier of Stone Arthur. There is a splendid mountainscape through the whole western arc, from the Old Man of Coniston through to Skiddaw.

Great Shunner Fell

Location: Yorkshire Dales, Wensleydale
Grid Ref: SD 848973
Height: 2349 ft (716 m)
Status: Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: Great Shunner Fell is the highest point of a great sprawl of moorland between upper Wensleydale and upper Swaledale, and lays on the route of the Pennine Way. It is around six miles and 1600 ft of ascent from Hawes, a straightforward walk of about 3 hours. There is little foreground interest but distant panoramas are superb and include the Lake District, the Three Peaks and much of the north Pennines.

Hallin Fell

Location: Lake District, Far Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 433198
Height: 1273 ft (388 m)
Status: Marilyn, Wainwright

Notes: Tucked within the lower elbow of Ullswater, Hallin Fell is virtually isolated from the rest of the Far Eastern Fells and is a delightful little hill. It's a mere twenty minute ascent from Martindale church, not far from Howtown. There is a huge square cairn on the summit. The views of Ullswater are excellent, and the mountain panorama includes the eastern satellites of the Dodds and the Helvellyn group, Gowbarrow and the Mel Fells, Blencathra, Cross Fell and the northern Pennines, and some of the many tops of the High Street and Stony Cove Pike groups crowding into the southern arc.
Harbour Hill

Location: Pentland Hills
Grid Ref: NT 206654
Height: 1381ft (421 m)
Status: none

Notes: A modest yet pleasing little hill in the Pentlands, overlooking the city of Edinburgh. The hill lays immediately east of Maiden's Clough, the pass between Penicuik and Balerno, and is probably visited most often by walkers exploring the ridge west of Allermuir Hill. The summit is unmarked, laying about 100 metres south of the boundary fence between Edinburgh and Midlothian.
Hare Stones

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 315343
Height: 2057 ft (627 m)
Status: Nuttall

Notes: The tiniest of cairns marks the summit of Hare Stones, a minor top of Caldbeck's High Pike and little more than a slight bump in the surrounding moorland. Two paths running round the shoulders of High Pike and a third path down from its summit converge into one near the head of the Graingill Beck valley, and Hare Stones itself lays barely a hundred metres to the northwest of this point though can be rarely visited. But for its status as a Nuttall it's a fair bet that it would be ignored, for its drab moorland surround ensures that it lacks any interest, save that of being in the middle of nowhere.


Harrison Stickle

Location: Lake District, Central Fells
Grid Ref: NY 281073
Height: 2415 ft (736 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: The highest of the Langdale Pikes, Harrison Stickle (together with its near neighbour Pike O'Stickle) dominates Langdale and is prominent in views from Windermere, Lonsdale and along the A65 down from Ingleton. It has something of a tower-shaped profile, making it look formidale in views from the valleys, yet can easily be ascended from the plateau to the rear, or from the valley via Dungeon Ghyll or Stickle Ghyll (both routes are straightforward but a bit strenuous). A longer but easier ascent can be made from Grasmere via Easedale. There is an excellent view, particularly over the southeastern arc across Windermere to the Pennines.

Hay Bluff

Location: Black Mountains
Grid Ref: SO 244366
Height: 2221 ft (677 m)
Status: none (deleted Nuttall)

Notes: Hay Bluff is the dramatic little butt-end at the northern extremity of the Black Mountain ridge on the England/Wales border. It overlooks Hay-on-Wye and the nearby Hay to Capel-y-Ffin road provides easy access. A series of grassy paths, some of them pretty steep, lead from the various car parks along Gospel Pass to the top of the hill. It's a favourite spot for hang gliding. The view is superb, the northern arc encompassing the pastoral stretches of Herefordshire and Powys while the southern arc consists of the rest of the Black Mountains and also part of the Brecon Beacons to the southwest. Plynlymon is seen to the northwest.

Helm Crag

Location: Lake District, Central Fells
Grid Ref: NY 327093
Height: 1299 ft (316 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: Known to generations of tourists as the Lion and the Lamb, Helm Crag is an outlier of High Raise situated two miles northwest of Grasmere. The unusually rocky summit sits atop an otherwise unremarkable grassy fell. The fell can be climbed direct from Grasmere - it requires some effort but takes less than ninety minutes. The actual top of the fell, the "Howitzer", is tricky to reach. The view is restricted by the Helvellyn and Fairfield groups to the east and the bulk of High Raise to the west, but the Grasmere Valley is the obvious highlight.

Hensbarrow Beacon

Location: Cornwall
Grid Ref: SW 996575
Height: 1024 ft (312 m)
Status: Marilyn

Notes: Surely the saddest summit in Britain. Technically it is the highest natural point for many miles around, but in practice Hensbarrow Beacon is surrounded and overtopped on three sides by the massive spoil heaps of Cornwall's china clay quarries. Some of these heaps are a good three to four hundred feet higher, many are still growing, and there can be little doubt that they will be permanent fixtures. Someday this summit will have to be relocated. If you do wish to visit and claim a technical "bag" then the trig pillar is just ten minutes' walk east of the minor road between Carthew and Coldvreath, about three miles north of St Austell. You don't want to know about the qualities of the view.
High Hartsop Dodd

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 393107
Height: 1703 ft (519 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: A slight bump along the north ridge of Little Hart Crag, barely qualifying as a fell in its own right. High Hartsop Dodd overlooks Brothers Water to the north but apart from that it's really sandwiched in between its higher neighbours, including Red Screes to the east and Hart Crag to the west. Fairfield, St Sunday Crag and Helvellyn also appear nearby. This intimacy with a considerable number of higher fells does at least give the view from the cairn a good deal of interest. Can easily be visited from Little Hart Crag, a walk of around ten minutes with negligible reascent.
High House

Location: Lake District, Southern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 240092
Height: 2244 ft (684 m)
Status: Nuttall

Notes: The north top of Allen Crags, situated between its parent fell and Glaramara. Strictly speaking it is nameless, but it qualifies as a Nuttall and for inclusion it was named for High House Tarn, which it stands directly above. Although the cairn is very close to the ridge path it's a sure bet that few walkers bother to visit. Views are excellent, particularly around the southern arc from the Langdale Pikes through to the Gables.
High Pike

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 374088
Height: 2152 ft (656 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: The second top of the Fairfield Horseshoe (if going anticlockwise from Ambleside), High Pike has the appearance of a fine rocky peak when seen from the valley of Scandale but a visit to the top reveals that it's merely a shoulder on the ridge with virtually no descent to the north. High Pike is marked by a chaotic jumble of large boulders and some clambering will be needed. A stone wall runs along the summit ridge. The view is not especially good but includes much of the High Street range to the east.


High Pike

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 318350
Height: 2159 ft (658 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: One of the most northerly Lakeland fells, High Pike rises three miles south of the village of Caldbeck and commands excellent views across the Solway Firth to Scotland. The fell as a whole is broad, squat and grassy but the top is stony and features some unusual summit furniture, not least a stone seat, the ruin of a shepherd's cottage and an enormous cairn. A number of abandoned mines litter the northern slopes and the easiest ascent makes use of the old mine road from Nether Row.
High Raise

Location: Lake District, Central Fells
Grid Ref: NY 280095
Height: 2500 ft (762 m)
Status: Wainwright, Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: A great sprawling mass of a hill, the highest summit of the Central Fells massif laying a mile north of the Langdale Pikes. High Raise has more in common with the Pennines than the Lakeland fells, being a flat-topped broad ridge whose slopes are a fair distance from the summit cairn. While there is little foreground interest the far panorama is among the best in Lakeland and features a full 360 degree vista of mountainscape. Keswick is just visible to the north. All approaches are long; perhaps the most popular is from Grasmeme via Easedale and Sergeant Man, though the route from Stonethwaite via Greenup Gill is probably the easiest and that from Dungeon Ghyll via Stickle Tarn the shortest.

High Raise

Location: Lake District, Far Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 448134
Height: 2631 ft (802 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: High Raise is the highest point on the northern section of the High Street ridge to the east of Ullswater. The most popular route of ascent is from Patterdale, at the southern end of the lake, via Wainwright's Coast to Coast route, though it can also be reached more directly from Pooley Bridge. The view is dominated by High Street and its outliers to the south, while Penrith lays to the northeast backed by Cross Fell. There are glimpses of Ullswater and Haweswater from the summit environs.
High Spy

Location: Lake District, North Western Fells
Grid Ref: NY 234162
Height: 2142 ft (653 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: High Spy is part of the Dale Head - Catbells ridge that forms the western side of Borrowdale, and is usually climbed as part of that ridgewalk rather than on its own. Its flanks on the Borrowdale side are quite prettily wooded, while to the west High Spy falls steeply and dramatically to the upper Newlands valley. Although Dale Head blocks out the view to the southwest, views in most other directions are excellent and Skiddaw, the Helvellyn ridge, the Scafell massif and the Grasmoor / Grizedale groups are all displayed to advantage.

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This page last updated 14th October 2008


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