The Southern Fells

Grey Friar

Grey Friar summit, looking north-east to Great Carrs and Swirl How.
Photograph taken: 29th August 2018

Grey Friar summit, looking north-east to Great Carrs and Swirl How.
Photograph taken: 29th August 2018
The twin summit cairns at Grey Friar, looking north-west to Slight Side and Scafell.
Photograph taken: 25th June 2024
The famous Matterhorn Rock at Grey Friar summit plateau. Unlike the mountain it is named for, the rock is only a couple of metres tall but is a striking feature of the fell.
Photograph taken: 25th June 2024

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Location map for Grey Friar

Wainwright top at Grey Friar

Context

Grey Friar is a Wainwright in The Southern Fells area of the Lake District National Park.

Location

Grid Ref: NY 26009 00360
BNG e,n: 326009,500360
Lat/long: 54.393317,-3.141046
GeoJSON: [-3.141046,54.393317]
///W3W: shelved.balconies.rumble
Feature: the south-eastern of two cairns on rock outcrops

Elevation

Height: 773m / 2,536ft
Drop: 78.0m
Rank: 52 / 214

Details

Locating Wainwright tops

It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that the Wainwright top is at the true summit of a fell. For many fells in the 214, this is not the case. Wainwright often chose a top because of its aspect or view rather than its height. This is what sometimes makes finding the Wainwright tops so confusing.

Locating a top is also complicated by the fact that features change over time. Cairns come and go, some grow and some shrink, fence posts are added or removed. Although the summit sketches in Wainwright's guides and the photographs in this guide are useful aids for identification, the features shown are subject to change, especially on popular fells. See Fleetwith Pike for an example of how cairns change.

Important: The accuracy of GPS on smartphones is ±5m at best but could be as much as 8m out. Please bear this in mind when using the location data.

Notes

When approaching from Fairfield col, it's not clear which of the two prominent cairns is the true summit. The north-west cairn (on the right) has the best views across to the Scafell range but the true summit is at the south-east cairn (on the left). On this occasion, Wainwright has chosen the true summit and not the best view as his top.

Wainwright: …a long level promenade of excellent turf precedes a stonier area where two rock outcrops 40 yards apart, each bearing a cairn, are slightly elevated above the plateau: the one to the south-east is the true summit, having the advantage of a few feet in altitude… (Grey Friar 8).

Route planning

Fells

Brim Fell: 3.1km; 154m; 52min
Great Carrs: 1.3km; 89m; 24min
Swirl How: 1.5km; 106m; 27min

Details

There are 3 viable routes from Grey Friar

The Wainwright guides indicate “ridge routes” from each fell and although this is useful, it doesn't always allow for effective route planning. The routes shown here are the Wainwright ridge routes (indicated with ) plus any other viable routes (indicated with ), not necessarily linked by a ridge. This list provides a more comprehensive network of potential routes that can be used when planning days out on the fells.

All routes have been plotted in the OS Maps app. The distance, ascent and time values are those given for the plotted routes. Time values are for moderately fit walkers without breaks. They should therefore be considered minimum values for the purposes of route planning.

Notes

Grey Friar is separate from the main Coniston ridge and is most often visited out and back from the ridge path via Fairfield col. It can most easily be combined with Great Carrs and Swirl How.

Classification

DoBIH No

2639

Local

Birkett, Fellranger, Synge, Wainwright

Birkett: Lake District hills over 1,000ft listed in Bill Birkett's Complete Lakeland Fells. There are 541 Birketts, 211 are also Wainwrights.
Fellranger: Lake District hills included in Mark Richards' Fellranger walking series, a set of eight volumes inspired by the Wainwright guides. There are 230 Fellrangers, 209 are also Wainwrights. This is a curated list, not based on height criteria.
Synge: Lake District hills over 300m listed in Tim Synge's The Lakeland Summits. The book aims to list every significant summit over 300m in height within the National Park, 646 in total. It includes all 214 fells in Wainwright's Pictorial Guides, including Castle Crag at 290m.
Wainwright: Lake District hills included in volumes 1-7 of Wainwright's A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. There are 214 Wainwrights in all. This is a curated list, not based on height criteria.

National

Hewitt, Nuttall, Simm

Hewitt: Hills in England, Wales, and Ireland that are at least 2,000 feet (610m) high with a drop of at least 30m on all sides. There are 97 Wainwrights in this class.
Nuttall: Hills in England and Wales that are at least 2,000 feet (610m) high and with a drop of at least 15m on all sides, as published in the two volumes of The Mountains of England and Wales by John and Anne Nuttall. There are 169 Nuttalls in the Lake District, 114 are also Wainwrights.
Simm: British hills that are at least 600m high with a drop of at least 30m on all sides. There are 99 Wainwrights in this class.

Geology

Bedrock

Birker Fell Andesite Formation

BGS code

BFA

Type

Igneous (extrusive)

Age

449.0 – 458.4 Ma

Period

Ordovician

Parent

Borrowdale Volcanic Group

Details

Members, formations and groups

Member: A smaller unit of rock that shares common charateristics and features, often used in geology to describe specific layers within a formation.
Formation: A larger unit of rock that is distinct from other formations above and below. A formation may include two or more members.
Group: A stratigraphic unit that includes two or more associated formations that are usually contiguous or contain significant features in common.
Suite: A geological unit containing intrusive, highly deformed, or metamorthic rocks of the same type, lacking discernable stratification.
Complex: A geological unit containing intrusive, highly deformed, or metamorthic rocks of different types, lacking discernable stratification.

Notes

Predominantly sheets of fine to coarse grained andersite, formed from fluid lava flows with feeder dykes and sills. The formation may also include some basalts and dacites. Distinctive units within the formation are identified as member units e.g. Haystacks Andersite Member. Andersites are volcanic rocks, intermediate between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite.

Daylight

Tuesday, 9th June 2026

Daylight

17 hours 10 minutes

Dawn