Cross Fell

About Cross Fell

Cross Fell is the highest ground in the Pennines and the highest point in England outside the Lake District. Its summit is a stony plateau at 893 m, part of a ridge some 12.5 km long running north-west to south-east that also takes in Great Dun Fell at 848 m and Little Dun Fell at 842 m.

The three fells together form an escarpment: steep above the Eden Valley to the south-west, easing off north-eastwards towards the South Tyne and the Tees. A cross-shaped drystone shelter marks the top. In clear conditions the outlook reaches over the Eden Valley to the Lake District, and from the northern side across the Solway Firth to the Southern Uplands.

The fell lies in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, within Cumbria and the historic county of Cumberland.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Cross Fell (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for England — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in England · check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 54.703, -2.487. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is trig point. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Record revised

03-Jun-24

Drop measured from

NY 7112 0567 · 243.3 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Long-distance paths past this hill

One waymarked long-distance route runs within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.

Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.

The Cross Fell group

14 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Cross Fell as the independent hill at its head.

Twelve highest shown, of 14 in the group.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks