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), in the Far Eastern Fells. It rises above the south-east side of Haweswater. It also features on the Synge list.
Summit conditions on Brown Howe (Mardale)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 12° to 6°C, gusts to 53 mph, 11.8 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.
The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →
Routes up Brown Howe (Mardale)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
Branstree and its north-east top above Haweswater, with two more summits on the way — 9.6 km and 550 m, a stage averaging 19%, and hard route-finding on featureless ground. About 2¾–4 hours.
Distance and climb are measured from the route’s GPX track, and the time from them by Naismith’s rule; the route page says what each grade rests on. How we check →
How hard is Brown Howe (Mardale)?
The shortest way up we hold is Two Birketts from Mardale Head — 9.6 km, 550 m of ascent, ~2¾–4 h. On our scale its hardest axes are steepness and navigation — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · navigation: Hard · length: Moderate · terrain: Not assessed · exposure: Not assessed.
These are the route page’s grades, set by the rules on how we grade: length and steepness measured from its GPX track, the others set on the ground, judged from the map or estimated from OpenStreetMap. The route page says which. How we check →
Conditions and 7-day summit forecast
Modelled for the 529 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 08:13 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Brown Howe (Mardale)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near Brown Howe (Mardale)
Positions are approximate.
Vehicles are left at their owner’s risk: we list places people park and cannot vouch for any of them. Take valuables with you and leave nothing on show.
Buses
The nearest bus stop we hold is the 508 and 509 stop at Hartsop, adjacent to road end, 8.6 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Brown Howe (Mardale)
Notes from the Two Birketts from Mardale Head route
- The link over Brown Howe and the Selside slopes is faint-trod grass with stretches of no path — straightforward in clear weather, compass work in cloud.
If you need to get off (the leg from Selside Pike): Once you hit the Old Corpse Road, you can immediately turn left (west) and use this established, engineered path to descend to the Haweswater shoreline.
Quoted from the route page: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches Brown Howe (Mardale).
We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. Read the warnings on the route pages that climb it, check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected. The National Park Authority’s What to pack page, AdventureSmart’s hill walking kit list and Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s safety page are linked from our what to carry guide.
If you need Mountain Rescue
Dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then Mountain Rescue.
Before you call, have ready: where you are (a grid reference if you can – the OS Locate app shows yours on your phone), what has happened, how many of you there are, and your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you.
If you cannot make a voice call because of a hearing or speech impairment, emergency SMS works only if you have registered first: text “register” to 999.
From Mountain Rescue England and Wales’s guidance on calling them out (opens in new tab) (read 26 October 2026).
Map, GPX and nearby Birketts
Skip mapFree mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).
Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.
Birketts within 3 km of Brown Howe (Mardale)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over Brown Howe (Mardale)
Download GPX Walked in part, February 2025 · km 0.0–1.8, km 3.3–4.1 from the map
Every line here is a guide, not a guarantee — conditions change. Navigate for yourself and carry a map and compass. How to use this guide.
On the hill: terrain and water on Brown Howe (Mardale)
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 529 m): a mapped path comes within about 201 m of the summit. We have not checked a way from it to the top: the figures here are measured along a straight line on a terrain model, not a route. That line climbs about 24 m. 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 v18.4 (CC BY 4.0); Copernicus GLO-30. CRoW access layer: © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. See the terrain & access report for how this is worked out across all 144 fells.
About Brown Howe (Mardale)
My Strava hikes over Brown Howe (Mardale)
1 logged hike pass over this summit:
- Mardale circuit (opens in new tab) — 17.1 km · 1001 m ascent · 4h 31m moving · 28 February 2025
Data from Strava.
Classifications & hill data
Is Brown Howe (Mardale) a Wainwright?
Brown Howe (Mardale) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
Lists, height and summit position from the Database of British and Irish Hills; the feet are converted from its metres and the grid reference from that position. How we check →
Places to stay near this fell
- Haweswater Hotel (opens in new tab) hotelabout 3.4 km
Also nearby, but not independent
- Mosedale Cottage (opens in new tab) hutabout 2.8 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).