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

Birkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)Birkett top

High Scarth

High Scarth (487 m / 1,598 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Southern tops.

487 m
Height
+12
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX →

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487 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+12 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 487 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Tue 28 Jul): 15° to 14°C, gusts to 31 mph, 5.9 mm of rain forecast.

Tue 28 Jul
🌦️
15° / 14°
💨 31 mph
🌧 5.9 mm (99%)
Wed 29 Jul
🌧️
14° / 12°
💨 27 mph
🌧 8.5 mm (100%)
Thu 30 Jul
🌧️
13° / 7°
💨 29 mph
🌧 2.8 mm (87%)
Fri 31 Jul
🌤️
15° / 3°
💨 23 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (86%)
Sat 1 Aug
🌦️
15° / 5°
💨 15 mph
🌧 4.5 mm (82%)
Sun 2 Aug
☁️
16° / 7°
💨 19 mph
🌧 0.0 mm (35%)
Mon 3 Aug
🌦️
16° / 7°
💨 16 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (23%)

Forecast snapshot from 28 Jul 2026, 04:58 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 487 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

High Scarth

High Scarth (487 m / 1,598 ft) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells), one of the lesser-known Southern tops. It rises the upper Duddon valley. The name comes from high (Old English heah, the higher of two tops). It also features on the Synge list. Its nearest tops are Silverybield Crag (0.8 km SE); Slight Side (0.8 km NW); Throstlehow Crag (1.2 km E) — 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.

Classifications & hill data
Birkett
Synge
487 m
Height
1,598 ft
In feet
NY 2153 0439
Grid ref

Map & nearby Birketts

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

Nearest parking: Hardknott Pass (roadside pull-ins), about 3.8 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near High Scarth (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.

0.8 km SESilverybield Crag395 m · Southern
1.2 km EThrostlehow Crag404 m · Southern
1.2 km ENEScar Lathing439 m · Southern
1.8 km WSWGreat How - Eskdale Fell522 m · Western
2.0 km NEHigh Gait Crags572 m · Southern
2.1 km SSWDawsonground Crags397 m · Southern
2.1 km WSWEskdale Fell - Whinscales425 m · Western
2.1 km SEYew Bank499 m · Southern
2.4 km NNEPen762 m · Southern
2.5 km SWWhin Crag (Eskdale)358 m · Southern
2.8 km SSEBorder End522 m · Southern
2.9 km SSWGoat Crag312 m · Southern

Terrain & access

A pathless top (about 487 m) — the nearest mapped path is about 506 m away, the open ground you’d cross to the summit (about 117 m of ascent, up to ~42°). There is steep ground (over 30°) on the direct line — pick your line with care. 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 High Scarth

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

Hardknott Pass (roadside pull-ins) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)
Limited pull-ins near the pass summit for Hard Knott and Harter Fell. Don't block passing places.
Directions
Wasdale Head (NT car park) — 4.0 km from summit (straight line)
National Trust, pay & display (free for members). The classic base for Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Kirk Fell, Yewbarrow. Fills very early.
Directions
🍺 Wasdale Head Inn

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 High Scarth 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.

Other fells near High Scarth

Maps & guidebooks for High Scarth

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