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529 m · Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit) · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Brown Howe (Mardale)

Brown Howe (Mardale) (529 m / 1,736 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Far Eastern tops.

529 m
Height
+3
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

Home › Fells › Brown Howe (Mardale)

Written and walked by Lee McCoy · Last reviewed

529 mBirkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Is it worth going? — Today’s conditions & 7-day summit forecast

Modelled guidance for the 529 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 16° to 14°C, gusts to 35 mph, 5.1 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
16° / 14°
💨 35 mph
🌧 5.1 mm (98%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
16° / 13°
💨 30 mph
🌧 1.9 mm (98%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌦️
14° / 6°
💨 28 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (63%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
16° / 3°
💨 26 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (82%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
16° / 4°
💨 15 mph
🌧 3.3 mm (31%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
16° / 5°
💨 18 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (25%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
17° / 7°
💨 12 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (24%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 529 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Pro mountain forecasts: MWIS · Met Office mountain forecast

About the walk

Key information

Brown Howe (Mardale)

Brown Howe (Mardale) (529 m / 1,736 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Far Eastern tops. It rises Mardale. The name comes from howe (Old Norse haugr, a hill or mound). It also features on the Synge list. Its nearest tops are Selside Pike (1.1 km S); Hare Shaw (1.4 km NE); Branstree NE Top (Branstree East Top) (High Howes (Mardale)) (1.9 km S) — it's usually taken in on a round of these neighbours. It's a worthwhile objective for anyone working through the Birkett list, or as a short extension to a bigger day on the higher neighbouring fells.

Routes up Brown Howe (Mardale)

Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.

Two Birketts from Mardale Head
9.6 km · ~2.8 hr
Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
529 m
Height
1,736 ft
In feet
NY 4871 1219
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap (switch layers top-right). Parking positions are approximate.

Nearest parking: Mardale Head, Haweswater (free), about 2.4 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Brown Howe (Mardale) (within 3 km)

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits — detour to them on this walk and they are pure profit. Distances are straight-line; allow extra for terrain.

1.9 km SBranstree NE Top (Branstree East Top) (High Howes (Mardale))673 m · Far Eastern
1.9 km WNWCastle Crag (Mardale)395 m · Far Eastern
2.2 km NEPowleys Hill465 m · Far Eastern

Routes over Brown Howe (Mardale)

Two Birketts from Mardale HeadPlanned
9.6 km · ~512 m ascent · loop · ~2.5–3.5 h
Summits: BranstreeBranstree NE Top (Branstree East Top) (High Howes (Mardale))Selside PikeBrown Howe (Mardale)

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

A planned line is a suggestion, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate independently and carry a map & compass.

Terrain & access

A near-path top (about 529 m): a mapped path comes within about 201 m of the summit, with a last stretch of open ground (about 24 m of ascent, up to ~14°). The summit is on CRoW open access land.

Computed from open data, not walked — pathless ground needs confident navigation, and mapped paths, barriers and access boundaries can be incomplete. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (via Overpass); Natural England CRoW Access Land; DoBIH; Copernicus GLO-30. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 145 fells.

Best parking to hike Brown Howe (Mardale)

Where we have the data, each parking spot also shows the nearest public toilets and facilities (cafés, pubs, shops).

Mardale Head, Haweswater (free) — 2.4 km from summit (straight line)
Free but small and fills very early — High Street, Harter Fell, Kidsty Pike, Branstree.
Directions
Wet Sleddale dam (free) — 5.1 km from summit (straight line)
For the quiet Shap-side fells: Seat Robert, Sleddale fells.
Directions

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm. Lakeland car parks fill before 9am on fine weekends.

Tip: pan and zoom the interactive map at the top of this page to spot other potential parking near your route.

Buses to Brown Howe (Mardale) from Penrith / Ambleside / Windermere

No regular bus serves the start points for this fell — this is one for the car (or a long approach from the nearest served valley). The nearest hubs are Penrith (X4/X5 & 508), Ambleside and Windermere (555, 505, 516).

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

My hikes over Brown Howe (Mardale) (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

Interactive route maps and photos load here for visitors with JavaScript. Data from Strava.

Other fells near Brown Howe (Mardale)

Maps & guidebooks for Brown Howe (Mardale)

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