High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
High Fell (Hawk Rigg) at 428m (1,404ft) is a Birkett top above the Tilberthwaite valley near Coniston, its rocky summit giving views across the quarry landscape and south to the Furness Fells.
Summit conditions on High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 13° to 7°C, gusts to 47 mph, 7.7 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 High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
Hand-mapped, with GPX to download — full maps further down.
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 High Fell (Hawk Rigg)?
The shortest way up we hold is The Tilberthwaite Birketts — 5.26 km, 307 m of ascent, ~1½–2¼ h. On our scale its hardest axes are steepness and navigation — Hard.
All axes: steepness: Hard · navigation: Hard · length: Easy · 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 428 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 27 October 2026, 20:59 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
2 more places to park near High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
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 505 stops at Monk Coniston, at Hall. From there it is 3.5 km and 256 m of ascent to the start of The Tilberthwaite Birketts — a route we rate Hard overall (hardest: steepness and navigation) — a walk in before the walk. And the same back: about 12.2 km in all, with the walk. As timetabled from 27 October to 1 November. Towards Coniston (505): Tuesday to Sunday 20:07. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.
Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
Notes from a planned route, not walked: The Tilberthwaite Birketts
- Between about 1.75 and 2.6 km the line crosses open ground between the four tops, mostly away from mapped paths, and crosses a crag line OpenStreetMap maps on Hawk Rigg twice, at about 2.2 and 2.3 km. Take care on the steep ground there, and in cloud.
- Old mine workings are mapped beside the line: the Tilberthwaite Tunnel adit about 13 m from the path near 0.5 km, and the Hawkrigg Copper Mine about 35 m from the line near 2.1 km. Keep to the paths and away from any opening.
- About 2.1 km of the line, over the tops and round below Great Intake between about 1.75 and 4.2 km, is on paths that OpenStreetMap does not record as public rights of way, or on no mapped path at all; the climb beside Tilberthwaite Gill and the descent to the road are public footpaths. That is a map-data note, not a ruling on access: check the access land and rights of way maps before relying on this stretch.
If you need to get off (the leg from Hawk Rigg): Back the way you came, about 2.5 km, or on along the line, about 2.8 km.
Quoted from the route page of a planned route, drawn from the map and not yet walked: its warnings and the note for the leg that reaches High Fell (Hawk Rigg).
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 High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
Routes over High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
The start is the National Trust car park at Low Tilberthwaite, the start of Wetherlam by Birk Fell too. The four tops lie within about 0.6 km of each other, between about 1.9 and 2.5 km.
Download GPX Planned route · not yet walked
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 High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
Terrain & access
A near-path top (about 428 m): a mapped path comes within about 54 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 3 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 High Fell (Hawk Rigg)
Classifications & hill data
Is High Fell (Hawk Rigg) a Wainwright?
High Fell (Hawk Rigg) 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 →