Summits of Great Britain

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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	Ditchling Beacon Location: South Downs, Sussex Grid Ref: TQ 331130 Height: 814 ft (248 m) Status: Marilyn, County Top (East Sussex) Notes: A splendid little hill, the highest point in East Sussex is a popular place with a view encompassing huge tracts of Sussex to the north and glimpses of Newhaven, Brighton and the English Channel to the south. The trig point is close to the scarp slope and it's only necessary to walk thirty or forty metres to the north for the best views. The hill can be climbed from nearby villages such as Ditchling or Clayton, the latter just fifteen minutes' walk from Hassocks railway station. Drivers can cheat by parking up just a few minutes' walk from the top off a lane to the east.

	Dodd Location: Lake District, Northern Fells Grid Ref: NY 245273 Height: 1647 ft (502 m) Status: Wainwright Notes: The westernmost top of the Skiddaw massif, Dodd stands alone, its slopes heavily forested. There is apparently a new path up from the adjacent Carl Side col, connecting Dodd with the rest of the massif, but previously Dodd had to be climbed alone, ascended by a maze of forestry roads whose layout was always more recent than the newest available map. The top used to be hidden in trees but nowadays a little bald patch provides a useful view of Derwentwater, and arguably the finest panorama of Bassenthwaite (as pictured).

	Dodd Location: Lake District, Western Fells Grid Ref: NY 164158 Height: 2103 ft (641 m) Status: Nuttall Notes: Dodd is an outlier of the Buttermere Red Pike, and overlooks both the lake and village of Buttermere. It is easily visited from the standard ascent route of Red Pike, by turning right after the steep pull up from Bleaberry Tarn. It's worth it for the view.

	Dodd Fell Location: Yorkshire Dales, Wensleydale Grid Ref: SD 840845 Height: 2192 ft (668 m) Status: Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall Notes: Dodd Fell is a wasteland of rough grasses and peat hags laying some 600m east of the line of the Pennine Way just after it crosses the watershed between Ribblesdale and Wensleydale. It has little merit either as a viewpoint or as a place to be and its climb, though perfectly straightforward, is unrewarding. The nearest road access is Kidhow Gate, reached from upper Wensleydale, from where it's a mere 20 minute walk. A summit for list-tickers only.

	Druim Shionnach Location: Scottish Highlands, Kintail Grid Ref: NH 074084 Height: 3238 ft (987 m) Status: Munro, Murdo Notes: The second of seven Munros of the celebrated South Glenshiel ridge (counted from the eastern end), Druim Shionnach ("Foxes' Ridge") is only thirty minutes' walk from the first, Creag a Mhaim. The reascent is some 350ft. The last part of the connecting ridge is a surprisingly narrow arete, though it's less scary than Striding Edge in the Lakes and is unlikely to prove difficult to the average hillwalker. The view is similar to that from its neighbour except that the third Munro along the ridge, Aonach air Chrith, looks quite daunting. The Kintail peaks to the north and the Quoich and Knoydart hills to the south provide a splendid panorama.

	Drumaldrace (a.k.a. Wether Fell) Location: Yorkshire Dales, Wensleydale Grid Ref: SD 873867 Height: 2014 ft (614 m) Status: Hewitt, Nuttall Notes: Drumaldrace stands above the town of Hawes in upper Wensleydale, from where it can be ascended in just over an hour and a half. The summit dome is broad and relatively flat, restricting the view to that of other tops and ridges round about, while the best views of Hawes and along Wensleydale itself are seen from the approach slopes. The ascent track from Burtersett is rough and muddy as far as the point where it joins the old Roman road that bypasses the top of the fell on its south side. The summit dome itself carries no actual rights of way though paths are beginning to appear. A footpath also runs around the summit dome to the north, the Hawes side, but approaches to or descents from the cairn in this direction should be avoided as the intervening terrain is exceptionally boggy.

	Dundry Down Location: Bristol Grid Ref: ST 553667 Height: 764 ft (233 m) Status: Marilyn Notes: The highest point of the Dundry Hills overlooking Bristol from the southwest, Dundry Down is not exactly one of Britain's more worthwhile summits. The trig point, seen here (in front of the bush just right of centre) stands on top of what looks like an artificial earthwork, fifty metres beyond a barbed wire fence crossing a muddy pasture and adjacent to a cluster of farm sheds. Purists may argue but I consider this top as "bagged" as it's ever going to be. Not worth visiting unless you're a list-ticker. At least the view of Bristol from the adjacent village of Dundry is worth seeing.

	Dunkery Beacon Location: Exmoor, Somerset Grid Ref: SS 891415 Height: 1703 ft (519 m) Status: Marilyn, County Top (Somerset) Notes: Dunkery Beacon is the highest summit of Exmoor, a national park that straddles the counties of Devon and Somerset close to the Bristol Channel coast. Although much of Exmoor is heath, moor and rough pasture, the summit of Dunkery Beacon itself is quite stony. As well as the usual OS trig pillar the summit features an enormous cairn and a topograph. The summit is only a few hundred metres from the lonely Luccombe to Wheddon Cross road, though walkers wanting to make it part of a worthwhile expedition might like to tackle it from Porlock, via the valley of Horner Water. The view is extensive and includes much of Exmoor, extending across Devon to Dartmoor, across Somerset to the Quantocks and across the Bristol Channel to Wales. On the clearest days the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons might just be glimpsed.

	Duwynt Location: Brecon Beacons Grid Ref: SO 005206 Height: 2703 ft (824 m) Status: Buxton & Lewis Notes: An outlier of Pen y Fan, and one of the few hills found exclusively on Buxton & Lewis's list. It's an excellent viewpoint for Pen y Fan and Corn Du and is only three or four minutes' diversion from the main ascent track from Storey Arms.

	Eagle Crag Location: Lake District, Central Fells Grid Ref: NY 276121 Height: 1722 ft (525 m) Status: Wainwright Notes: Eagle Crag stands at the head of the Stonethwaite valley south of Borrowdale. Although it looks quite daunting from down in the valley it is really just a top of High Raise. The ascent is not difficult, involving an approach via Greenup then a crossing of some pathless terrain to gain the summit from the southeast. The bulk of High Raise shuts out most of the panomara through the eastern arc while Glaramara limits that to the west, so the best views to be had from the top are to the north (illustrated) and south.

	Eildon Mid Hill Location: Southern Uplands. Melrose Grid Ref: NT 548322 Height: 1385ft (422 m) Status: Marilyn Notes: Eildon Mid Hill is the highest of a group of three hills that stand in isolation south of the town of Melrose, in the Tweed valley. Their isolation among the plains of the Tweed make them superb viewpoints, and some two thousand years ago a Roman signal station was sited on the north hill, barely a mile away. The summit of Eildon Mid Hill is only a few hundred metres off the route of St Cuthberts Way, which crosses the col between the mid and north hills, and the hill can be climbed from Melrose in well under an hour. There is a topograph on the summit but it is badly worn - however, the view encompasses the Cheviots, the Ettrick Hills, Yair Forest, the Meldons, Moorfoots, Pentlands and Lammermuirs, as well as the towns of St Boswells and Galashiels.

	Fairfield Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells Grid Ref: NY 358117 Height: 2863 ft (873 m) Status: Wainwright, Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall Notes: This celebrated fell, laying at the apex of three ridges between Grasmere and Kirkstone Pass, is the 14th highest summit in England and is not far short of Munro height. Its southeastern and southwestern ridges form the famous Fairfield Horseshoe, an excellent full day circular walk from Ambleside. The northeast ridge is also full of interest, including the impressive height of St Sunday Crag as well as the awkward little topknott of Cofa Pike. Views are glorious, that to the north especially, across Grizedale Tarn towards Helvellyn and Striding Edge. The pass of Grizedale offers ascent routes from Grasmere and from Patterdale, though the climb from Grizedale Hause is very steep. Perhaps the easiest way up is from Grasmere via Stone Arthur and Great Rigg.

	Fell Head Location: Howgill Fells Grid Ref: SD 649981 Height: 2100 ft (640 m) Status: Hewitt, Nuttall Notes: A lonely fell in the northwest of the Howgills, Fell Head looms above the M6 motorway from the east as it runs through the narrow gap in the hills between Kendal and Penrith. As such it is seen by tens of thousands of people every day yet visited by only a tiny fraction. Equally lonely hills fill the panorama in every direction. A path rises to the summit from Howgill farm down in the valley, though it is probably approached more often along the ridge path from The Calf.

	Fellbarrow Location: Lake District, Western Fells Grid Ref: NY 132242 Height: 1365 ft (416 m) Status: Wainwright, Clement Notes: The northernmost top of the range of hills laying between the Vale of Lorton and Loweswater, Fellbarrow is an extensive hill of rough pasture. It can be climbed from Thackthwaite or from Low Lorton. Standing as it does on the edge of the Lakeland hils it commands an extensive view of the Cumbrian coastal plain, and on clear days Scotland is visible across the Solway Firth. Fellwards, the Grasmoor group takes pride of place amongst the extensive panorama of fells.

	Firle Beacon Location: South Downs, East Sussex Grid Ref: TQ 485059 Height: 713 ft (217 m) Status: Marylin Notes: Firle Beacon is a fine grassy top, the highest point of the South Downs between Alfriston and Southease. The seven mile walk between the two locations makes for a fine half day expitition, although there are two car parks right on the ridgeline a mile east and west of the summit respectively, for those who like their summit conquests to be easy. Newhaven and its harbour are well seen to the south, Lewes and Cliffe Hill are nearby to the north, while the ridge of the South Downs itself stretches away both east and west.

	Freeholds Top Location: South Pennines Grid Ref: SD 906218 Height: 1493 ft (455 m) Status: Marylin Notes: Freeholds Top is a moorland summit in the southern Pennines, lying about two miles south west of Todmorden in upper Calderdale, close to the Yorkshire / Lancashire border. There are plenty of approach routes (though not as many paths on the fell as the map suggests there are), and the easiest approach is probably from Gauxholme at the south end of Todmorden, from where a series of paths and tracks loop around the east and south sides of the fell via several upland farms and old mine workings. The walk is pleasant enough although the summit is rather dull. It is unusual in having a tarn adjacent to the trig pillar. There is not much foreground interest but there are extensive views of other Pennine tops and perhaps the most obvious feature is the obelisk of Stoodley Pike, a few miles away on the other side of Calderdale.

	Froswick Location: Lake District, Far Eastern Fells Grid Ref: NY 435085 Height: 2362 ft (720 m) Status: Hewitt, Nuttall, Wainwright Notes: Froswick mimics its southern neighbour, Ill Bell, in that it appears as a shapely pyramid from most directions. It lays on the Ill Bell ridge between Troutbeck and Kentmere and is normally climbed as part of the Ill Bell ridgewalk or the Kentmere horseshoe. Kentmere lays to the east and Windermere to the southwest, but most of the panorama consists of other Lakeland fells, notably the Fairfield and Helvellyn groups through the northwestern arc and High Street and its neighbours o the north.

	Garth Hill Location: Taff Vale Grid Ref: ST 103835 Height: 1007 ft (307 m) Status: Marylin Notes: A most pleasant little hill which stands above Taffs Well to the west, and is the nearest Marylin to Cardiff. It's a climb of about 75 minutes from Taffs Well railway station, rather steep in places; drivers can cheat by parking up on the road that runs high around the south slopes of the hill from where it's a mere 20 minutes to the top. Cattle and sheep graze the heathland summit, which boasts a superb view over the Welsh capital. Exmoor can be seen far top the south across the Bristol channel, while the Brecon Beacons can be seen to the north.

	Gategill Fell Top Location: Lake District, Northern Fells Grid Ref: NY 317273 Height: 2792 ft (851 m) Status: Nuttall Notes: The west top of Blencathra. From Blencathra's principal summit, Hallsfell, Gategill Fell Top appears as a distinct pyramid shape further west along the summit ridge. It's invariably visited as part of Blencathra's ridge walk and yields excellent views each way along the ridge, south and southwest across Derwentwater to the bulk of the Lakeland fells, and westwards to Skiddaw.

	Gibson Knott Location: Lake District, Central Fells Grid Ref: NY 317100 Height: 1378 ft (420 m) Status: Wainwright Notes: An unfrequented fell, the highest on High Raise's lateral ridge that terminates in Helm Crag above Grasmere. Gibson Knott is unusually rocky for a fell of such modest height and its climb is not without effort - the most usual approach is from Grasmere via Helm Crag. The view is restricted by higher fells in most directions, but Grasmere looks delightful from here.

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This page last updated 19th November 2009

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