The Northern Fells

Bannerdale Crags

The “currick” cairn at Bannerdale Crags. This is not the highest point (that is marked by another small cairn 100m to the south-west) but it is the Wainwright summit and has the better aspect.
Photograph taken: 23rd August 2023

The “currick” cairn at Bannerdale Crags. This is not the highest point (that is marked by another small cairn 100m to the south-west) but it is the Wainwright summit and has the better aspect.
Photograph taken: 23rd August 2023
The small summit cairn at the highest point on Bannerdale Crags (683m), looking south-west to Blencathra (Atkinson Pike) with a distant Skiddaw on the right.
Photograph taken: 14th April 2018
Wainwright: ”…the crater-like rim in view to the north is magnificent.“ A view of the crags from Wainwright's top at Bannerdale Crags, looking north to Bowscale Fell.
Photograph taken: 23rd August 2023

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Location map for Bannerdale Crags

Wainwright top at Bannerdale Crags

Context

Bannerdale Crags is a Wainwright in The Northern Fells area of the Lake District National Park.

Location

Grid Ref: NY 33612 29076
BNG e,n: 333612,529076
Lat/long: 54.652392,-3.030452
GeoJSON: [-3.030452,54.652392]
///W3W: hunk.submit.tangling
Feature: currick cairn

Elevation

Height: 683m / 2,241ft
Drop: 38.0m
Rank: 97 / 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

The Wainwright top at Bannerdale Crags is not the highest point of the fell. The true summit lies about 100m to the south-west. Wainwright's chosen top at the “currick” (Bannerdale Crags 8) has by far the better view, being “…excellently sighted near the edge of a great downfall into Bannerdale.”

True summit (small cairn)

Grid Ref: NY 33533 29026
///W3W: stepping.exhaled.driftwood

Route planning

Fells

Blencathra: 2.6km; 266m; 56min
Bowscale Fell: 1.7km; 72m; 26min
Mungrisdale Common: 2.7km; 35m; 35min

Details

There are 3 viable routes from Bannerdale Crags

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

2332

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

Kirk Stile Formation

BGS code

KST

Type

Sedimentary (marine)

Age

458.4 – 477.7 Ma

Period

Ordovician

Parent

Skiddaw 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 marine in origin. They comprise coarse- to fine-grained slurries of debris from the continental shelf flowing into a deep-sea environment, forming distinctively graded beds. They form thinly laminated to very thinly bedded dark grey siltstones and mudstones. They are underlain by the Loweswater Formation and overlain by the Eycott Volcanic Group.

Daylight

Tuesday, 9th June 2026

Daylight

17 hours 14 minutes

Dawn