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554 m · Outlying Fell — South Lakeland · Birketts to bag nearby, parking, buses, my hikes and live summit weather.

Outlying Fell — South LakelandAlso a Birkett

Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

Swinklebank Crag at 554m (1,818ft) is an Outlying Fell forming part of the Bannisdale Horseshoe above the remote Bannisdale valley east of Shap, giving views across the limestone upland and the Bannisdale valley.

554 m
Height
+3
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →
554 mOutlying Fell — South Lakeland✓ summit is also a Birkett+3 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 554 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Mon 14 Sep): 15° to 12°C, gusts to 36 mph, 3.6 mm of rain forecast.

Mon 14 Sep
🌦️
15° / 12°
💨 36 mph
🌧 3.6 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
15° / 9°
💨 41 mph
🌧 12.7 mm (100%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌧️
12° / 9°
💨 26 mph
🌧 4.9 mm (23%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌦️
11° / 8°
💨 33 mph
🌧 4.2 mm (98%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌧️
12° / 7°
💨 41 mph
🌧 6.9 mm (84%)
Sat 19 Sep
🌦️
12° / 8°
💨 39 mph
🌧 0.6 mm (72%)
Sun 20 Sep
🌦️
11° / 7°
💨 28 mph
🌧 0.4 mm (24%)

Forecast snapshot from 14 Sep 2026, 20:19 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 554 m summit altitude via Open-Meteo. Summit conditions are always harsher than the valley — check the professional mountain forecasts before you go.

Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) at a glance

Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

Swinklebank Crag at 554m (1,818ft) is an Outlying Fell forming part of the Bannisdale Horseshoe above the remote Bannisdale valley east of Shap, giving views across the limestone upland and the Bannisdale valley. Wainwright included the Bannisdale Horseshoe in his Outlying Fells guide as part of the South Lakeland group. A remote walk in very quiet, rarely visited country.

Routes up Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

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

Classifications & hill data

Outlying Fell
South Lakeland
Birkett
Synge
554 m
Height
1,818 ft
In feet
NY 5006 0490
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) a Wainwright?

Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) is one of Wainwright's Outlying Fells, not one of the 214 in the Pictorial Guides. It is also on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)?

The nearest car park we hold is Swinklebank Crag (layby), about 1.0 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited), 1.9 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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)?

The shortest way up we hold is Harrop Pike & Ancrow Brow - Birketts — 20 km, 601 m of ascent, about 5 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

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

Parking & buses for Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

Best parking to hike Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

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

Swinklebank Crag (layby) — 1.0 km from summit (straight line)
Nearest fells: Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) (1.0 km), Cocklaw Fell (1.4 km), Ancrow Brow North Top (1.7 km). Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Sadgill, Longsleddale (free, limited) — 1.9 km from summit (straight line)
Head of Longsleddale — Kentmere Pike, Shipman Knotts, Grey Crag, Tarn Crag.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Shipman Knotts (verge) — 3.5 km from summit (straight line)
1.2 km from Shipman Knotts.
Directions (opens in new tab)Something changed here?
Hollow Moor (layby) — 3.6 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Shipman Knotts, Kentmere Pike, Harter Fell (Mardale) and Little Harter Fell — the 'Longsleddale Round (Kentmere Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag & Shipman Knotts)' route starts 6 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Ground surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions (opens in new tab)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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) by bus

The nearest bus stop we hold is the 555 at Staveley, outside Abbey Square, 8.5 km of walking from the start — not realistically reachable without a car.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com (opens in new tab) or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Hazards on Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

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: Swinklebank Crag (layby), about 1.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow) (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.

1.9 km NWGreat Howe (Longsleddale)494 m · Far Eastern
2.3 km WSWCocklaw Fell365 m · Far Eastern
2.9 km NHarrop Pike637 m · Far Eastern

Routes over Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)

20.03 km · ~601 m ascent · loop · ~5–6.5 h

⬇️ Download GPX

⚠️ Warnings: The Bannisdale watershed section holds a 2 km+ pathless stretch of tussock and peat hag — featureless in mist and slow in any weather. The plotted line there is a bearing, not a path.

Full route guide ↗

✎️ Planned route — drawn but not personally walked or checked yet.

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

Places to stay near this fell

We have not verified an independent place near this fell — these are the chains and charities that serve it.

Mosedale Cottage (opens in new tab) hut

about 4.0 km from the start, in a straight line

This is the only property inside the radius whose cached page is actually about itself, and it is emphatically not a bed for a family - it is the roof a Harrop Pike walker should know about before committing to a 20.03 km day whose middle third is a bearing across the Bannisdale watershed. It sits on the Mosedale/Swindale side of that watershed rather than on the Longsleddale road, so it is a bail-out and a shelter, not a base: 3.95 km straight-line from Sadgill, which is a number for a map and not a walk-in - the ground between is over the tops and unmeasured by us. What its page does give is usable: a grid reference to put on the map (NY 495 095 on LR90), a stove with the explicit warning that no fuel is available locally, and the MBA's standing party-size restriction with no number attached, which is the one thing a group of four or more should resolve before relying on it. Ranked 1 only because it is the sole row here with evidence; on family usefulness it ranks nowhere.

Its whole facilities list is two lines that contradict each other for anyone planning a night: there is a working stove, and no fuel anywhere near it. Warmth here is something you carry in on your back along with the sleeping bag.

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 (opens in new tab).

Other fells near Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)