hikes.guideLake District

Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

Short entry: no route or hazard notes for this fell yet.

Nearest route starts ↓
787 mBirkett — Western (not a Wainwright summit)+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km

Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top) is a Birkett (one of the 541 tops in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells) in the Western Fells. The name comes from fell (Old Norse fjall, a mountain or hill).

Summit conditions on Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

On the summit on Tuesday 27 October: 10° to 4°C, gusts to 66 mph, 9.4 mm of rain forecast over the whole day, midnight to midnight.

Full 7-day summit forecast ↓

The forecast figures are Open-Meteo’s, worked out for the summit’s height. How we check →

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)

Parking & buses

Wasdale Head village green car park (free)
2.5 km from summit (straight line)
Lake Head, Wasdale (NT, paid)
3.6 km from summit (straight line)

Parking & buses ↓

Routes near Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

No route guide for this fell yet. The nearest route starts we publish, in a straight line from the summit:

Conditions and 7-day summit forecast

Modelled for the 787 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

Full 7-day forecast
Tue 27 Oct
10° / 4°
66 mph
9.4 mm (100%)
Wed 28 Oct
8° / 5°
44 mph
9.4 mm (100%)
Thu 29 Oct
8° / 6°
27 mph
1.1 mm (26%)
Fri 30 Oct
7° / 5°
27 mph
0.1 mm (31%)
Sat 31 Oct
9° / 0°
9 mph
0.0 mm (25%)
Sun 1 Nov
7° / 0°
7 mph
0.0 mm (12%)
Mon 2 Nov
6° / 0°
17 mph
0.0 mm (0%)

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 Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

Parking

Wasdale Head village green car park (free) — 2.5 km from summit (straight line)
At Wasdale Head, about 0.3 km south of the Wasdale Head Inn; the National Trust's Pillar trail starts here and calls it the Wasdale Head Village Green car park (grid ref NY 1868 0852, read 17 October 2026). The 'Round Kirk Fell from Wasdale Head' and 'Extended Mosedale Horseshoe' routes start here; the Great Gable and Scafell Pike routes start at Lake Head, 1.3 km on foot. Added from the 5 August 2026 OSM candidate review.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Lake Head, Wasdale (NT, paid) — 3.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Great Gable, Kirk Fell and Scafell Pike — the 'Great Gable & Kirk Fell' route starts 10 m away. Also serves 'Scafell Pike from Wasdale, by Lingmell Col'. National Trust's access statement records a pay-and-display machine here (National Trust, January 2024) but does not say which payment methods it takes; the same document notes mobile reception is poor across Wasdale, so carry coins as well as a card. Compacted surface (OSM-tagged). Toilets on site. National Trust, pay & display (free for members). The classic base for Scafell Pike, Great Gable, Kirk Fell, Yewbarrow. Fills very early. Fees: £7 up to 2 hours; £8.50 up to 4 hours; £10 all day. Charges apply at all times (NT, checked August 2026). Free for NT members (checked August 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Overbeck Bridge, Wastwater (NT, paid) (1.8 km, 110 m up); Greendale, Nether Wasdale (roadside, free) (4.9 km, 197 m up)
Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) — 3.8 km from summit (straight line)
Paid parking at the top of the pass — Dale Head, Fleetwith Pike, Grey Knotts with minimal ascent. This is the slate mine's own car park, the WESTERN one; the National Trust car park 170 m east is a separate one. Fees: Day parking GBP 5 per day for visitors; free for all Honister activity guests (honister.com/your-visit/). Overnight parking GBP 15 a night in the large bottom car park, open to campervans, motorhomes and vans, no tent camping, no facilities, no electric hook-ups; book online or pay by QR code on arrival and display confirmation on the dashboard (honister.com/your-visit/overnight-parking) (operator, checked August 2026). You pay by card, inside the building, not at a machine in the car park. The posted opening is 9am but it is often later; the mine is content for you to arrive before it and pay on the way out, and the car park is covered by cameras (Lee McCoy, local observation, recorded 12 August 2026). Pay and display (LDNPA, checked August 2026).
Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 9 August 2026.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
If it is full: Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.4 km, 259 m up)
2 more places to park near Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)
Honister (NT, paid) — 3.9 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Great Gable, Green Gable, Brandreth and Grey Knotts — the 'Great Gable from Honister Slate Mine' route starts 61 m away. Also serves 'Haystacks'. Paid National Trust car park - the prices we used to show here came from an aggregator rather than the Trust, so we no longer publish a figure; check the machine on arrival, and members should bring their card (National Trust car-park list, checked August 2026). The machine takes cards, and National Trust members park free on production of their membership card (Lee McCoy, local observation, recorded 12 August 2026).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (farm field, paid) — 3.9 km from summit (straight line)
The farm’s own field, signed off the lane — £5 all day, £10 overnight, no booking needed (the farm’s own page, read 21 September 2026; its notice is still headed 2025). A different place from the free verge on the same lane, and the reason not to race for a verge space. The farm opened it to ease the parking problems in the busy period.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?

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

We don’t know yet. Wasdale Explorer (seasonal) serves this area, but we don’t hold its stop positions, so we can’t measure the walk from it — and we won’t tell you to drive on the strength of a gap in our own data. The Wasdale Action Group lists it as running Saturdays, Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from the start of May to the end of August (read 30 September 2026): check before you travel.

Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat

Hazards on Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

We have not written a hazard card for this fell yet, and that is not a sign that it is low-hazard. 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 & nearby Birketts

Free mapping: OpenTopoMap / OpenStreetMap, with SRTM elevation data (switch layers top-right).

Parking, toilets and buses: Parking & buses ↑.

Birketts within 3 km of Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.

1.7 km NWLooking Stead (Pillar)628 m · Western
2.8 km SWYewbarrow North Top (Stirrup Crag)617 m · Western
3.0 km ESESeathwaite Fell (Great Slack)631 m · Southern

About Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)

It also features on the Synge, Nuttall lists. Its nearest tops are Kirk Fell (0.5 km SW); Great Gable (1.2 km E); Green Gable (1.5 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.

Classifications & hill data

Is Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top) a Wainwright?

Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top) is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list, the Synge list, the Nuttall list and the Hewitt list.

Selected lists

787 m
Height
2,582 ft
In feet
NY 1991 1070
Grid ref

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 →

Other fells near Kirk Fell East Top (Kirk Fell North Top)