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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Glaramara

Location: Lake District, Southern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 246104
Height: 2569 ft (783 m)
Status: Wainwright, Hewitt, Nuttall

Notes: Glaramara is an evocative name, and the fell that bears it is a popular destination for walkers. Part of the complex northeast ridge of Scafell Pike, it looms large in the mountain panorama south of Borrowdale. Glaramara, indeed the whole ridge of which it forms a part, is formed of rough terrain of volcanic origin. Hence all walks hereabouts involve a good deal of clambering and many ups and downs over satellite tops, and Glaramara is not easily won. It is normally climbed from the south, in conjunction with Allen Crags. The summit is confusing, having two tops about 150 metres apart, each with two cairns. Which is highest is still a matter of conjecture - the picture here is the north cairn of the south summit. Views are glorious in all directions.


Glas Maol

Location: Scottish Highlands, Mounth
Grid Ref: NO 166765
Height: 3540 ft (1068 m)
Status: Munro, Murdo, Marilyn, County Top  (Angus)

Notes: Glas Maol is easy to ascend given that it stands not much over a mile from the highest point of the A93 between Braemar and Blairgowrie, and a straightforward ascent of only 1500 ft or so is necessary to attain the summit. Glas Maol may be administratively important (it's the meeting point of Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Angus) but aesthetically it's dull, being a relatively shapeless grassy lump. In the portrait image, left, it's seen from nearby Cairn of Claise. There are satisfying views of the Cairngorms and the Mounth, while further afield the Ochils are visible to the south.

Glas Tulaichean

Location: Scottish Highlands, Mounth
Grid Ref: NO 051760
Height: 3448 ft (1051 m)
Status: Munro, Murdo, Marilyn

Notes: A hill situated a few miles northwest of Spittal of Glenshee on the edge of some very remote country. Most guidebooks would have you take a roundabout and pathless route to this summit, ignoring the perfectly good landrover track all the way from Spittal of Glenshee to within a hundred metres of the summit. Whichever way you prefer to get there, adventurous or straightforward, the view repays your efforts tenfold. The western Mounth and the Cairngorms dominate the view but there is also an interesting panorama to the east snd southeast, ranging from Lochnagar and its neighbours through the Sidlaw hills to East and West Lomond in Fife.


Glastonbury Tor (a.k.a. Tor Hill)

Location: Somerset
Grid Ref: ST 512386
Height: 518 ft (158 m)
Status: sub-Marilyn

Notes: One of several conicals hills that rise from the fenland of the Somerset Levels, Glastonbury Tor is a hill surrounded by myth and legend. It is reputed to be the burial place of the Holy Grail and is also mixed up in the Arthurian legends. The tower on the hill, which stands immediately southeast of the town of Glastonbury, is the remains of a church that was struck by lightning several hundred years ago. The hill has a topograph and boasts superb views over the Somerset levels and north to the Mendips (Wells cathedral can easily be seen). There's a good path up from the town.


Glenridding Dodd

Location: Lake District, Eastern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 381176
Height: 1425 ft (442 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: Glenridding Dodd stands immediately north of the village of Glenridding, at the head of Ullswater. The fell is of modest height but is a real sod to ascend, primarily due to the difficulty of access but also because of the rough, pathless and liberally wooded slopes. If you do make the effort and struggle to the top you are rewarded with one of the most glorious views in Lakeland - the head of Ullswater to the south and an end-on view of the greater part of the same lake to the northeast.


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 Cockup

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 273333
Height: 1726 ft (526 m)
Status: Wainwright, Dewey

Notes: Oh come on, I hear you say, you're making this up. There surely can't be a hill with such a ridiculous name.

There is, and this is it. Great Cockup is a lonely little summit, part of the "back o'Skiddaw" group, and laying some two miles east of Bassenthwaite village from where it's most easily climbed. The panorama is rather dominated by the bulk of Skiddaw to the south and Knott and its companions to the east, but the view of Binsey and Over Water is good. The fell's most interesting feature is the tiny ravine of Trusmadoor, dividing Great Cockup from Meal Fell.


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 Sca Fell

Location: Lake District, Northern Fells
Grid Ref: NY 291339
Height: 2136 ft (651 m)
Status: Wainwright

Notes: Not to be confused with Scafell Pike or Scafell some twenty miles to the south, Great Sca Fell is a minor top in the "back o' Skiddaw" group and an immediate neighbour of its parent fell, Knott. It's probably best climbed as part of a round, either from Knott itself or from any of the Uldale fells to the north and west. Apart from a glimpse of Carrock Fell to the east and a nice grouping of the Whinlatter group to the southwest, the view is curtailed by the bulks of Knott and Skiddaw. The Solway Firth and part of the CUmbrian coastal plain are seen to the northwest.

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.

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This page last updated 6th November 2009


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