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574 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

Thornythwaite Fell

Thornythwaite Fell at 574m (1,883ft) is a Birkett top on the broad fell above the Borrowdale valley between the Castle Crag gorge and the Allen Crags ridge, giving views down Borrowdale and across to the surrounding fell ridges.

574 m
Height
+7
Bonus Birketts
See routes & download GPX → Parking & buses →

Home › Fells › Thornythwaite Fell

574 mBirkett — Southern (not a Wainwright summit)+7 bonus Birketts within 3 km

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

Modelled guidance for the 574 m summit. Always check the Met Office mountain forecast and MWIS before you set off.

On the summit today (Sat 12 Sep): 14° to 8°C, gusts to 46 mph, 32.0 mm of rain forecast.

Sat 12 Sep
🌧️
14° / 8°
💨 46 mph
🌧 32.0 mm (100%)
Sun 13 Sep
🌦️
14° / 9°
💨 14 mph
🌧 0.2 mm (6%)
Mon 14 Sep
🌧️
15° / 12°
💨 39 mph
🌧 9.3 mm (100%)
Tue 15 Sep
🌧️
14° / 9°
💨 39 mph
🌧 16.5 mm (98%)
Wed 16 Sep
🌧️
11° / 8°
💨 31 mph
🌧 7.6 mm (70%)
Thu 17 Sep
🌧️
10° / 8°
💨 35 mph
🌧 25.8 mm (100%)
Fri 18 Sep
🌧️
12° / 8°
💨 37 mph
🌧 19.2 mm (92%)

Forecast snapshot from 12 Sep 2026, 18:50 UTC — refreshed nightly and updated live in your browser. Temperatures and gusts adjusted to the 574 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

Thornythwaite Fell at a glance

Thornythwaite Fell

Thornythwaite Fell at 574m (1,883ft) is a Birkett top on the broad fell above the Borrowdale valley between the Castle Crag gorge and the Allen Crags ridge, giving views down Borrowdale and across to the surrounding fell ridges. Part of the fell country above Seatoller. A pleasant summit in the heart of the beautiful Borrowdale valley.

Routes up Thornythwaite Fell

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

The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round)
13.1 km · ~4 hr · Hard
A wild, little-trodden round of the rough Borrowdale fells above Rosthwaite and Stonethwaite — Bessyboot, Dovenest Top and Thornythwaite Fell — a maze of rocky knolls, hidden tarns and peat hags with huge views to the Scafells. Quiet and full of character, but pathless and boggy: a fair-weather fell day, not a wet-day plod.

Classifications & hill data

Birkett
Synge
574 m
Height
1,883 ft
In feet
NY 2454 1184
Grid ref

The short answers

Is Thornythwaite Fell a Wainwright?

Thornythwaite Fell is not a Wainwright. It is on the Birkett list and the Synge list.

Where do you park for Thornythwaite Fell?

The nearest car park we hold is Thornythwaite Fell, north-west (layby), about 1.0 km from the summit in a straight line. The next is Thornythwaite Fell (layby), 1.1 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 Thornythwaite Fell?

The shortest way up we hold is The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) — 13.1 km, 802 m of ascent, about 4 hours. On our scale its hardest axis is steepness — Severe.

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

Parking & buses for Thornythwaite Fell

Best parking to hike Thornythwaite Fell

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

Thornythwaite Fell, north-west (layby) — 1.0 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Allen Crags, High House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags), Red Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) — the 'Allan Crags & Glaramara' route starts 255 m away. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Thornythwaite Fell (layby) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Allen Crags, High House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags), Red Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara) and Looking Steads (Glaramara) — the 'Allan Crags & Glaramara' route starts 135 m away. Also serves 'Scafell Pike via the Corridor Route'. Free (OSM-tagged). Unpaved surface (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale (free verge) — 1.1 km from summit (straight line)
Free verge parking on the Seathwaite lane — the honeypot start for the Scafells, Great Gable and Glaramara. Arrive very early.
🕑 Typically full before 09:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 2026-08-09.
Directions Something changed here?
If it is full: Honister Pass (paid, slate mine) (1.8 km); Seatoller (NT, paid) (2.0 km); Rosthwaite (NT, paid) (3.8 km)
🚺 Public toilets (~188 m straight line) — Free
Rosthwaite Fell car park (paid) — 1.7 km from summit (straight line)
Walking base for Seathwaite Fell (Wainwright summit), Seathwaite Fell (Great Slack - Seathwaite Fell), Green Gable and Base Brown — the 'Seathwaite, Green Gable, Base Brown' route starts 78 m away. Paid parking (OSM-tagged).
Directions Something changed here?
Seatoller (NT, paid) — 2.0 km from summit (straight line)
Pay & display at the foot of Honister. Bus terminus for Borrowdale. Fees: pay and display (LDNP directory, checked Aug 2026). £7 up to 2 hours; £8 up to 4 hours; £9.50 all day. Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026). Free for NT members (checked Aug 2026). Charges apply at all times. Cash at machine; JustPark app at some car parks; card/phone payment not available in all car parks (NT, checked Aug 2026).
🕑 Typically full before 10:00 on fine weekends, Apr-Oct — Lee McCoy, local observation, 2026-08-09.
Directions Something changed here?
🚺 Rosthwaite Village (~1637 m straight line) — Free · Accessible🚺 Public toilets (~1904 m straight line) — Free☕ Honisters Yew Tree Coffee House

Positions are approximate — zoom the map to confirm.

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 Thornythwaite Fell by bus

The 77 stops at Rosthwaite General Store (near), 220 m from the start of The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) — a route we rate Hard. The last bus is 20:05 towards Keswick (78), every day. Checked against the operator’s timetable, 12 September 2026. Times here are a guide, not a promise — leave yourself more than the minute.

Stagecoach 77 / 77A “Honister Rambler”
Keswick – Portinscale – Hawse End (Catbells) – Grange – Seatoller – Honister Pass – Buttermere – Lorton – Whinlatter – Keswick (circular)
Catch it from: Keswick (connect via 555 from Windermere/Ambleside or X4/X5 from Penrith)
Seasonal (roughly Easter–October). Brilliant for the North Western fells: Catbells, Dale Head from Honister, the Buttermere fells and Whinlatter.

Rural routes change seasonally — confirm on stagecoachbus.com or Traveline before relying on a last bus.

Hazards on Thornythwaite Fell

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: Thornythwaite Fell, north-west (layby), about 1.0 km from the summit (straight line). Full parking, toilets and bus details are below.

Birketts near Thornythwaite Fell (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.

1.0 km SSECombe Head735 m · Southern
1.0 km ERosthwaite Fell (Rosthwaite Cam)612 m · Southern
1.2 km ESEDovenest Top (Dovenest Crag) (Stonethwaite Fell)633 m · Southern
1.7 km SLooking Steads (Glaramara)774 m · Southern
2.1 km SRed Beck Top (Glaramara South Top) (Lincomb Head - Glaramara)720 m · Southern
2.6 km SHigh House Tarn Top (High House - Allen Crags)683 m · Southern
2.8 km SWSeathwaite Fell (Great Slack)631 m · Southern

Routes over Thornythwaite Fell

The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round)Planned
13.09 km · ~802 m ascent · loop · ~4–5.5 h · Hard
Summits: Rosthwaite Fell - BessybootDovenest Top (Dovenest Crag) (Stonethwaite Fell)Thornythwaite Fell

✎️ One of the quietest corners of Borrowdale — but pathless, boggy and easy to lose your way. A round for a clear, dry day with the map out, not a wet or misty one.

⬇️ Download GPX

Best season: Late spring to autumn, in clear, dry weather. This is emphatically a fine-weather round.

⚠️ Warnings: Paths are faint or absent for much of this round, through a confusing maze of knolls, hags and hollows. Only attempt it in good visibility — in cloud or mist the navigation here is genuinely hard and it’s easy to get lost. Carry map and compass (or GPS) and know how to use them. Boggy, tussocky and rough underfoot — slow going, and much worse after rain. Save it for a dry spell. A committing round with little quick escape — start early and allow more time than the distance suggests. Livestock on the lower fields; keep dogs under close control.

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.

On the hill: terrain and water on Thornythwaite Fell

Water & shelter on the way up

On the The Borrowdale Fells (Rosthwaite Fell round) route:

💧 possible water source (4 m)🛖 map (7 m)🚌 General Store (N bound) (92 m)🚌 General Store (S bound) (109 m)🚌 Howe Lane End (S bound) (317 m)🚌 Howe Lane End (N bound) (318 m)

💧 Treat water from the fell before you drink it. A mapped point is usually a tap or public supply, but never drink untreated from a beck, stream or tarn — even clear-looking hill water can carry giardia or cryptosporidium from livestock or a carcass upstream and leave you seriously ill. Run it through a filter or purifier (a LifeStraw, Sawyer Squeeze or HydraPak) or bring it to a rolling boil first.

On-route facilities © OpenStreetMap contributors, per route — an absent marker doesn’t mean none.

Places to stay near this fell

Seatoller House B&B guest house

about 1.6 km from the start, in a straight line

Two named family rooms (Rabbit and Stag), both large with a private bathroom opposite, plus a dog policy precise enough to plan around — dogs in, but never in the dining room and dried off at the back door. The catch is timing: breakfast runs 8.00–8.30 only, which is late for a long Ullscarf day, and dinner is a single 7pm sitting that must be pre-booked 48 hours ahead if you did not book direct. It also shuts for the winter.

Worth knowing: “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”

The house is 400 years old, has taken guests for more than a century, and is the largest building in the hamlet of Seatoller; every bedroom is named for a local animal — Badger, Eagle, Osprey, Otter, Owl, Rabbit, Squirrel, Stag, Hedgehog and the Bakehouse annexe.

  • Dogs “Well behaved dogs are allowed, they are not allowed in the dining room at any time,Please clean and dry all dogs on entering Seatoller via the back door.”
  • Family rooms “Rabbit Large Family room, Private bathroom directly opposite, great views of garden & Fells”
  • Evening meal “dinner is a set menu served at 7.00pm with the exception of Wednesdays, when Dinner is not served”
  • Parking “There are 10 bedrooms all with private bathrooms, a large award winning garden surrounding the house and ample private car parking.”

Worth knowing before you book

These places state on their own site that they do not take children.

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.

Other fells near Thornythwaite Fell