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

Brownthwaite Crag, a Lake District fell
Birkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

Brownthwaite Crag

Brownthwaite Crag at 444m (1,457ft) is a rocky Birkett top on the ridge above the Swindale valley east of Shap, giving views across the quiet limestone country towards the Pennines.

444 m
Height
+5
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →

Home › Fells › Brownthwaite Crag

Written and walked by Lee McCoy

444 mBirkett — Far Eastern (not a Wainwright summit)+5 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 444 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 16° to 9°C, gusts to 41 mph, 9.1 mm of rain forecast.

Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
16° / 9°
💨 41 mph
🌧 9.1 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
☁️
15° / 9°
💨 14 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (16%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌦️
16° / 12°
💨 37 mph
🌧 1.7 mm (99%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌦️
16° / 10°
💨 31 mph
🌧 2.2 mm (97%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌦️
12° / 9°
💨 26 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (41%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌦️
12° / 9°
💨 30 mph
🌧 4.3 mm (82%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌦️
12° / 9°
💨 33 mph
🌧 4.6 mm (76%)

Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 444 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

Brownthwaite Crag at a glance

Brownthwaite Crag

Brownthwaite Crag, a Lake District fell
© Lee McCoy

Brownthwaite Crag at 444m (1,457ft) is a rocky Birkett top on the ridge above the Swindale valley east of Shap, giving views across the quiet limestone country towards the Pennines. Part of the high ground east of Haweswater in the remote Far Eastern fells. A seldom-visited summit in very quiet country.

Routes up Brownthwaite Crag

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

Fusedale Circuit
14.7 km · ~4.4 hr
A quiet ~15 km circuit of the Far Eastern fells from Howtown on Ullswater — Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Wether Hill, Loadpot Hill, Arthur's Pike and Bonscale Pike — broad grassy tops with grandstand views over the lake. A fine Steamer-and-walk outing.
Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill
9.7 km · ~2.9 hr
Four far-eastern tops above Ullswater — Swarth Fell, Loadpot Hill, Brownthwaite Crag and Steel Knotts — in 9.7 km with 568 m of climbing. Severe for steepness, hard for navigation and exposure; under three hours.

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
Synge
444 m
Height
1,457 ft
In feet
NY 4430 1735
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Brownthwaite Crag a Wainwright?

Brownthwaite Crag is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for Brownthwaite Crag?

The nearest car park we hold is Beda Fell (layby), about 1.2 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Gowk Hill (layby), 1.2 km out. We only look within 2.5 km, measured straight-line: over longer distances a road may cross a pass and the drive bears no relation to the line.

How hard is Brownthwaite Crag?

The shortest way up we hold is Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill — 9.7 km, 568 m of ascent, about 2.9 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

All axes: steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · exposure: Hard · length: Moderate · terrain: Moderate.

My hikes over Brownthwaite Crag (Strava)

1 logged hike pass over this summit:

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

Parking & buses for Brownthwaite Crag

Best parking to hike Brownthwaite Crag

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

Beda Fell (layby) — 1.2 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Beda Fell (Beda Head) (0.8 km), Gowk Hill (1.1 km), Brownthwaite Crag (1.2 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Grass surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Gowk Hill (layby) — 1.2 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Gowk Hill (0.8 km), The Nab (1.1 km), Brownthwaite Crag (1.2 km). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged). Fee not verified — check signage on arrival.
Directions Something changed here?
Steel Knotts (layby) — 1.4 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Steel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts) (0.7 km), Sleet Fell (1.2 km), Beda Fell (Beda Head) (1.3 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Martindale, St Peter's church (free, limited) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
Quiet side of Ullswater — Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Beda Fell, Pikeawassa.
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Aira Force, High Cascades (NT, paid) (3.6 km); Aira Force (NT, paid) (3.9 km)
Hallin Fell, south-east car park (free) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Hallin Fell, Sleet Fell, Low Birk Fell and Birk Fell (Bleaberry Knott - Birk Fell) — the 'Hallin Fell' route starts 8 m away. Also serves 'Birketts to the South of Ullswater'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?

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.

Vehicles are left entirely at their owner’s risk. We list places people park; we cannot vouch for any of them. Judge it on the day: take valuables with you, leave nothing on show, and if a spot feels wrong when you get there, park somewhere else.

Getting to Brownthwaite Crag by bus

The UB1 stops at Martindale Cattle Grid (near), 530 m and 74 m of ascent from the start of Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill. This looks like a seasonal service. Our timetable data has the UB1 stopping on 1 November 2026, but we haven’t confirmed that with the operator — so treat it as a reason to check rather than a date to plan around. We haven’t published its last bus times, so check the timetable before you rely on getting back — times here are a guide, not a promise.

Ullswater Hopper UB1
Troutbeck (Basecamp North Lakes) – Aira Force – Watermillock – Pooley Bridge – Askham
Catch it from: Pooley Bridge · Penrith (change to the 508 or 509)
The community hopper run for SITU by Stagecoach: 28 March to 1 November 2026 at weekends and bank holidays, and every day from 25 to 29 May and throughout July, August and September. Calls at the steamer piers, the campsites and the hotels around the northern half of the lake, and the driver will stop anywhere safe on request. £3 single, dogs welcome, no bike trailer in 2026. With the 508 it gives Gowbarrow, Little Mell Fell and the Pooley Bridge end of the High Street ridge a second option.

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

Hazards on Brownthwaite Crag

No hazard card for this fell. The usual open-fell rules apply: check the forecast, carry a map and compass, and turn back in cloud if the ground is not what you expected.

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Beda Fell (layby), about 1.2 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Brownthwaite Crag (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.

0.7 km SSEGowk Hill471 m · Far Eastern
2.3 km SSERed Crag711 m · Far Eastern
2.4 km NNESwarth Fell (Ullswater)545 m · Far Eastern
2.5 km NWSleet Fell378 m · Far Eastern
2.9 km WNWHigh Dodd501 m · Far Eastern

Routes over Brownthwaite Crag

Fusedale CircuitRevised
14.68 km · ~856 m ascent · loop · ~4–6 h
Summits: Hallin FellBonscale PikeArthur's PikeLoadpot HillWether HillBrownthwaite CragSteel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts)

✎️ Come by boat if you can. Howtown has almost nowhere to park and the eastern-shore lane is long and narrow, but the Ullswater Steamer pier is a few minutes from this start — sail in, walk the round, sail back, and the car never comes down the lane at all. Take the outward sailing first and walk afterwards, so an unhurried day on the tops can’t turn into a missed last boat. Sailings are seasonal, so check the timetable before you build a day around it. (Checked 4 Aug 2026; we don’t publish times here because a stale one would be worse than none.)

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: Steep crag edges above Ullswater: Bonscale Tower and the western drops off Arthur's Pike and Bonscale Pike are serious — keep well back, especially in cloud or wind. Boggy, featureless plateau: the Loadpot Hill saddle is peat-hagged and wet, and the broad grassy tops give little to aim for in mist — a compass day if the cloud is down. Summer bracken + a washed-out descent: the Brock Crag short-cut and the steep drop off Bonscale to Mellguards can be thick, navigation-sapping bracken, with one eroded section underfoot — walking poles help. Easy-to-miss summits: Wether Hill and Loadpot Hill both have their true top just off the obvious path — step the few metres across to be sure you've actually bagged them.

Full route guide ↗

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

Swarth Fell and Loadpot HillPlanned
9.69 km · ~568 m ascent · loop · ~2.5–4 h
Summits: Swarth Fell (Ullswater)Loadpot HillBrownthwaite CragSteel Knotts (Pikeawassa - Steel Knotts)

⬇️ Download GPX

Full route guide ↗

🥾 Walked in part — Lee walked this ground in September 2024; km 0.3–0.8, km 2.3–3.5, km 4.6–5.5 of this line are from the map.

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

On the hill: terrain and water on Brownthwaite Crag

Water & shelter on the way up

On the Fusedale Circuit route:

💧 possible water source (99 m)🛖 map (89 m)🚺 map (95 m)🚺 map (99 m)🚌 Hause Farm (166 m)

On the Swarth Fell and Loadpot Hill route:

🚌 Hause Farm (183 m)

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Places to stay near this fell

Low Gale self-catering

about 0.9 km from the start, in a straight line

The most complete answer in the cluster and the one physically tied to these routes: it sleeps 7 in four bedrooms, has a cot, off-road parking, drying facilities, its own washing machine, is dog friendly, is single storey, and prepared meals can be had from the owners' hotel kitchen without getting back in the car. It also states its minimum stay, which nothing else at Howtown does.

The cottage stands right beside Fusedale Beck - the beck the Fusedale Circuit follows out of Howtown - and the steamer jetty is reachable on foot without a car.

  • Dogs “Low Gale Ullswater is an elevated single storey, dog friendly holiday cottage located just beside Fusedale Beck and can easily accomodate 7 people.”
  • Family rooms “2 bathrooms 1 double bedroom 2 twin rooms 1 single room Ample storage and drying facilites”
  • Parking “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”
  • Children “Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Off road parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios Cot available Dishwasher *Washing Machine”

Howtown Cottages self-catering

about 0.8 km from the start, in a straight line

Four cottages 200 yards from the lake and under a kilometre from the start, every one of them dog friendly with parking, a cot and drying facilities. Cottage No4 is the one to ask for with a bad knee or a buggy: it puts a shower room AND a triple room on the ground floor, which nothing else at Howtown does.

There is no booking engine. You email David at the Howtown Hotel, and he confirms the cottage and the dates himself.

  • Dogs “Competitively priced, warm, cosy, functional and comfortable holiday homes for 4 to 7 visitors + dogs, 200yds from Ullswater”
  • Family rooms “Howtown Cottage No 4: Sleeps seven people with one double and one twin on the first floor and a triple room on the ground flo or.”
  • Parking “Facilities: Howtown Cottage No1 Free Superfast Broadband Dog friendly Parking Smoke-free Garden / Patios”
  • Children “1 Shower room on ground floor 1 bathroom 1 double bedroom 1 twin room 1 triple room on ground floor Dishwasher Cot available”

What each place says about itself, quoted from their own site. We have not stayed at any of them, and there are no prices, no booking and no affiliate links. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap.

Other fells near Brownthwaite Crag