Whitfell

About Whitfell

Sometimes written Whit Fell, this 573-metre summit is the highest point on the broad ridge west of the Duddon Valley, between Black Combe and Harter Fell. The hill itself is a grassy, fairly featureless mound, heavily grazed by sheep, though it carries a very large cairn whose stones may have come from a tumulus.

The view does more work than the summit. It takes in the Duddon Valley and its estuary, the western Coniston fells, the Eskdale fells with Scafell and Bowfell, much of western Cumbria including the Esk, Mite and Irt estuaries, the Isle of Man, and the hills south towards Black Combe.

Visits are infrequent. A bridleway crosses north of the top, but the fell is more often taken in on a round with Burn Moor, Kinmont Buck Barrow and Buck Barrow from the Corney Fell road, as Wainwright described in The Outlying Fells of Lakeland.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Whitfell (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 54.325, -3.295. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is large cairn/shelter on tumulus. 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

03-Jun-24

Drop measured from

SD 1492 8882 · 350.2 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.

Reaching Whitfell by train

One National Rail station sits within 8 km of the summit — close enough to make a car-free day of it. Distances are straight lines, not walking routes.

Each station page lists every hill in its reach, long-distance paths from the door and a live-times link — see all stations with hills in reach. Station positions from NaPTAN (OGL v3.0).

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 Whitfell group

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

Twelve highest shown, of 13 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