Kirk Fell

About Kirk Fell

Kirk Fell sits between Great Gable and Pillar on the long ring of fells encircling Ennerdale, and also overlooks Wasdale to the south. Low passes at Black Sail and Beck Head cut it off from those two higher neighbours, which gives it a substantial relative height and Marilyn status — the thirteenth highest in the Lake District.

The direct south-western slope up from Wasdale Head is exceptionally steep, and Wainwright made a comic drawing of it. Ascents more often use one of the two passes, or take the fell in as part of the Mosedale Horseshoe, the round of fells above Mosedale, a side valley of Wasdale.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Kirk 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 54.483, -3.244. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is large windshelter. On broad or flat summits the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

obvious summit

Record revised

03-Jun-24

Drop measured from

NY 2052 1065 · 619.5 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 Kirk Fell group

One other listed summit sits in the same prominence group, with Kirk Fell as the independent hill at its head.

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