The Northern Fells

Meal Fell

The small summit cairn (highest point) at Meal Fell, looking south-west towards the wind shelter (Wainwright top) with Bakestall and Skiddaw in the distance.
Photograph taken: 24th April 2022

The small summit cairn (highest point) at Meal Fell, looking south-west towards the wind shelter (Wainwright top) with Bakestall and Skiddaw in the distance.
Photograph taken: 24th April 2022
The Wainwright top is a rocky knoll, topped with a wind shelter. This view looks south-east with the lower slopes of Knott as a background.
Photograph taken: 24th April 2022

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Location map for Meal Fell

Wainwright top at Meal Fell

Context

Meal Fell is a Wainwright in The Northern Fells area of the Lake District National Park.

Location

Grid Ref: NY 28258 33711
BNG e,n: 328258,533711
Lat/long: 54.693303,-3.114556
GeoJSON: [-3.114556,54.693303]
///W3W: helpers.officer.punctual
Feature: wind shelter

Elevation

Height: 550m / 1,804ft
Drop: 29.3m
Rank: 151 / 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

There must only be a few centimetres in height difference between the Wainwright top and the true summit at Meal Fell. Naturally, the Wainwright top (wind shelter) is by far the more appealing of the two but as they are less than 70m apart, there's no reason not to visit both.

True summit (small cairn)

Grid Ref: NY 28298 33763
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Route planning

Fells

Great Cockup: 1.1km; 90m; 22min
Great Sca Fell: 0.9km; 131m; 23min

Details

There are 2 viable routes from Meal 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

2346

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

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.

Geology

Bedrock

Watch Hill Formation

BGS code

WHG

Type

Sedimentary (marine)

Age

465.5 – 458.4 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. The formation is composed of interbedded wackes (sand-sized grains with a fine-grained clay matrix), siltstones and mudstones.

Daylight

Tuesday, 9th June 2026

Daylight

17 hours 14 minutes

Dawn