England · Lake District National Park

Hesk Fell

Wainwright Outlying FellBirkettSyngeFellranger

3 classifications here — Birkett, Synge and Fellranger — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.

Hesk Fell, 478 m, Cumberland
Hesk Fell, 478 m, Cumberland. Photo by Michael Graham, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Height
478.1 m · 1,569 ft
Grid reference
SD 17607 94668
Coordinates
54.34090, -3.26886
County / area
Cumberland
OS Landranger
96
OS Explorer
OL6N
Summit feature
small cairn
Key col
SD 1668 9490 (379.4 m)

About Hesk Fell

Hesk Fell lies between the Duddon Valley and Eskdale near Ulpha, reaching 477 metres. Wainwright gave it a chapter in The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, with an anticlockwise circuit from the Birker Fell road that also takes in The Pike at 370 metres.

He was candid about the fell, conceding that it has many shortcomings and that the view of Scafell Pike and its neighbours is the only reward for going up. It is listed as a Birkett, Synge and Fellranger as well as an Outlying Fell.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Hesk 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

Conditional Right to roam: Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land.

Permission needed Wild camping: Needs the landowner's permission — the Dartmoor commons are the only exception in England.

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
—
Sunset
—
Daylight
—
Civil twilight ends
—

Computed astronomically for 54.341, -3.269. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Summit weather live

Loading forecast for the summit (478 m)…

Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).

Finding the summit

Surveyor's note

ground 5m W is as high.

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

Survey method
Abney level
Record revised
16-Jan-21
Drop measured from
SD 1668 9490 · 379.4 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).

Rated places to eat within 10 km of Hesk Fell
PlaceTypeRatingDistance
The Newfield InnPub/bar/nightclub3 out of 55.1 km · E
Fellbites CafeRestaurant/Cafe/Canteen5 out of 55.8 km · N
King George IVPub/bar/nightclub5 out of 55.8 km · NW

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.

Which hill this one belongs to

Hesk Fell is not counted as an independent hill in its own right. In prominence terms it belongs to Whitfell (573 m) — the nearest Marilyn you can reach from this summit without first dropping below its key col, 379 m.

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

PeakHeightDistance
The Pike370 m1.6 km
Yoadcastle494 m2 km
Woodend Height489 m2.1 km
Whitfell573.3 m2.4 km
Stainton Pike498 m2.4 km
White Pike (Birkby Fell)442 m2.7 km