The Eastern Fells

Great Mell Fell

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Location map for Great Mell Fell

Wainwright top at Great Mell Fell

Context

Great Mell Fell is a Wainwright in The Eastern Fells area of the Lake District National Park.

Location

Grid Ref: NY 39681 25367
BNG e,n: 339681,525367
Lat/long: 54.619829,-2.935639
GeoJSON: [-2.935639,54.619829]
///W3W: files.period.expecting
Feature: small cairn

Elevation

Height: 537m / 1,762ft
Drop: 198.0m
Rank: 154 / 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.

Route planning

Fells

Little Mell Fell: 4.4km; 259m; 1hr 17min

Details

There is one viable route from Great Mell Fell

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.

Classification

DoBIH No

2583

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

Dewey, Dodd, Marylin

Dewey: Hills in England, Wales, and the Isle of Man that are at least 500m high and less than 609.6m (2,000ft) with a drop of at least 30m on all sides. There are 31 Wainwrights in this class.
Dodd: Hills in Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and Ireland between 500m and 599.9m high with a drop of at least 30m on all sides. There are 29 Wainwrights in this class.
Marylin: British and Irish hills of any height with a drop of at least 150m on all sides. There are 39 Wainwrights in this class.

Geology

Bedrock

Mell Fell Conglomerate

BGS code

MFC

Type

Sedimentary (fluvial)

Age

393.3 – 410.8 Ma

Period

Devonian

Parent

Brecon Beacons 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

These sedimentary rocks are formed from coarse- to fine-grained sediment, laid down in channels, floodplains and levees of a river or estuary. Typically, conglomerates are composed of rounded, gravel-sized pieces of rock with finer-grained sediments in between. The two Mell Fells are the only Wainwrights formed of Devonian age rocks.

Daylight

Tuesday, 9th June 2026

Daylight

17 hours 13 minutes

Dawn