Helvellyn

About Helvellyn

Helvellyn is the high point of the Helvellyn range, a north-south line of fells north of Ambleside running between Thirlmere and Ullswater. Its name has been read as pale yellow moorland. It is the third-highest point in England and in the Lake District, and is reached more readily than either Scafell Pike or Scafell.

The eastern side holds the mountain's best-known scenery: three deep glacial coves and the two narrow ridges of Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. Routes climb it from many directions.

It was among the first fells to draw walkers and travellers, particularly from the later 18th century, and early visitors included Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, who both lived nearby at times. There have been a number of deaths on the mountain over the past two centuries; the artist Charles Gough, who died on Striding Edge in 1805, is remembered chiefly for that.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Helvellyn (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 54.527, -3.018. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

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

Record revised

11-Jul-23

Drop measured from

NY 3270 1172 · 236.4 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.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

The Helvellyn group

16 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Helvellyn as the independent hill at its head.

Twelve highest shown, of 16 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