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, between Longsleddale and Bannisdale, giving views across the Bannisdale valley. Wainwright included the Bannisdale Horseshoe in his Outlying Fells guide.
Summit conditions on Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
On the summit on Monday 2 November: 7° to 3°C, gusts to 27 mph, 0.0 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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)?
The shortest way up we hold is Harrop Pike & Ancrow Brow - Birketts — 20.03 km, 660 m of ascent, ~5–7 h. On our scale its hardest axes are distance and steepness — Severe.
All axes: length: Severe · steepness: Severe · navigation: Hard · 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 554 m summit (Open-Meteo). Check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.
Full 7-day forecast
Taken 2 November 2026, 02:25 UTC; the live forecast replaces it when it loads. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (opens in new tab)
Parking & buses for Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
Parking
Route starts first, then the car parks nearest the summit, which are not always a way up.
1 more place to park near Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
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 nearest bus stop we hold is the 6 and 555 stop at Staveley, outside Abbey Square, 8.5 km of walking from the start — no bus route we hold serves it.
Getting there across the Lake District: Buses · Parking map · By train · By boat
Hazards on Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
Notes from a planned route, not walked: Harrop Pike & Ancrow Brow - Birketts
- 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.
If you need to get off (the leg from Ancrow Brow North Top): Retreat: The map shows no mapped way off between Ancrow Brow North Top and Swinklebank Crag: back or on. Back is over Harrop Pike and Great Howe to Sadgill, about 5 to 6.5 km; on is south over Swinklebank Crag, as the stages beyond it describe; not walked for this guide.
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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow).
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 Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
These Birkett tops are not Wainwright summits. Distances are straight lines: check the ground and access on a map before adding one.
One of The Shap Fells Birketts (21 tops, and which of our routes reach each one).
Routes over Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
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.
About Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
Classifications & hill data
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.
Selected lists
This is the summit’s grid reference. If you call from anywhere else, give your own position, not this one.
The summit is also a Birkett.
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 →
The view from Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
What you can see from Swinklebank Crag (Ancrow Brow)
On a clear day — computed sightlines, curvature- and refraction-corrected.Visible on a clear day, modelled from terrain: Scafell Pike, Scafell and 34 more Wainwrights. Not checked from the top.
All 36 Wainwrights in clear view (highest first)
Scafell Pike, Scafell, Great End, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Fairfield, Crinkle Crags - Long Top (Second Crinkle), Hart Crag, High Raise (High Street), Swirl How, The Old Man of Coniston (Coniston Old Man), Brim Fell, Allen Crags, Great Carrs, Kidsty Pike, Harter Fell (Mardale), Red Screes, Stony Cove Pike (Caudale Moor), Wetherlam, Ill Bell, Harrison Stickle, Thunacar Knott, Froswick, Pike of Stickle, Yoke, Pike of Blisco, Pavey Ark, Cold Pike, Loft Crag, Tarn Crag (Sleddale), Grey Crag (Sleddale Fell), Shipman Knotts, Hard Knott, Sallows, Sour Howes, Lingmoor Fell (Brown How)
How the skyline, light and sightlines are computed
Sightlines from this summit to the 214 Wainwright summits, on the Copernicus GLO-30 elevation model, a surface model whose 30 m cells hold the top of whatever stands there, trees and buildings included. Corrected for the Earth’s curvature and average refraction, from an eye 1.6 m above the summit; a sightline counts only when it clears the ground between by more than 10 m, so “marginal” ones are counted and not named. The same method and model as the View Report, which it reproduces exactly on twelve Wainwright summits tested — a guide to the view, not a guarantee of any single one.
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) hutabout 4.0 km
We have not stayed at any of them. We take no bookings or affiliate fees. Distances are straight lines from each route start, never walking times. Properties found via OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab).