The Lake District holds England's highest mountains — every English peak over 3,000 feet is here. Locals call them fells, and 214 of them were catalogued by Alfred Wainwright. This page is your starting point: heights, honest difficulty and where to begin.
The local word
A fell is the Lake District's word for a mountain or high hill. It comes from the Old Norse fjall, meaning mountain, left behind by the Viking settlers who farmed these valleys over a thousand years ago. So "fell" and "mountain" describe the same summits — Helvellyn is both a fell and England's third highest mountain.
When people talk about "the fells", they usually mean the 214 summits Alfred Wainwright described in his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells (1955–66) — the standard tick-list for walkers ever since. You'll also hear "fell walking" (hiking), "fell running" (the local sport of racing up them) and fell names ending in the old dialect words: pike (a pointed summit), crag (a rocky face), dodd (a rounded hill).
Did you know?
Many fell names are Norse sentences hiding in plain sight: Scafell Pike means roughly "the peak of the fell with the shieling (summer pasture)" — a name a Viking farmer would have recognised.
978 m
England's highest point — Scafell Pike (3,209 ft)
214
Wainwright fells — the classic tick-list
4
Separate mountains over 3,000 ft
100%
of England's 3,000 ft peaks are in the Lake District
Walked, photographed, honestly written up
Six full guides so far, each with routes, the real parking situation, how long it actually takes and our own photos. More are on the way — the rest of the 214 live in the Wainwrights directory.
368 m · 1,207 ft · nearest town Keswick
The most accessible of all 214 Wainwrights — a huge Derwentwater view for as little as ten minutes' walking from Gale Road, with a Miles Without Stiles route to the top.
Read the Latrigg guide
335 m · 1,099 ft · nearest town Ambleside
The big-view, low-effort favourite between Ambleside and Grasmere — Loughrigg Terrace, Rydal Cave and a summit panorama that embarrasses fells three times its height.
Read the Loughrigg guide
451 m · 1,481 ft · nearest town Keswick
Keswick's best first fell, above Derwentwater. A brief hands-on summit scramble — but honestly gentle — and you can arrive by boat on the Keswick launch.
Read the Catbells guide
405 m · 1,329 ft · nearest village Grasmere
The Lion and the Lamb above Grasmere — a steady pull to the most famous small summit in the Lakes. The scramble among the summit rocks is entirely optional.
Read the Helm Crag guide
597 m · 1,959 ft · nearest village Buttermere
Wainwright's favourite fell, where his ashes were scattered at Innominate Tarn. A joyful clamber, not a climb, from Gatesgarth or Buttermere.
Read the Haystacks guide
950 m · 3,117 ft · nearest village Glenridding
England's third highest mountain. The famous Striding Edge scramble for the experienced — and honest non-scramble walkers' routes for everyone else.
Read the Helvellyn guide
868 m · 2,848 ft · nearest town Keswick
Saddleback — the great ridged wall above the A66. Home to Sharp Edge, one of England's most serious scrambles, plus honest walking routes that avoid it entirely.
Read the Blencathra guide
931 m · 3,054 ft · nearest town Keswick
Keswick's giant, and the most achievable of England's really big mountains — a long, steep, well-trodden path with no scrambling and an enormous summit view.
Read the Skiddaw guide
803 m · 2,635 ft · nearest town Coniston
Coniston's anchor fell — a proper 800 m summit on clear engineered paths, past the hanging tarn of Low Water and the copper mines that built the village.
Read the Old Man of Coniston guide
978 m · 3,209 ft · nearest town Wasdale
England's highest mountain — the routes easiest to hardest, honest safety, the boulder-field summit and parking at Wasdale.
Read the Scafell Pike guide
Round of 8 Wainwrights · Fairfield 873 m · from Ambleside
The classic Ambleside ridge round over eight Wainwrights — grassy underfoot, but a long, high mountain day.
Read the Fairfield Horseshoe guide
899 m · 2,949 ft · nearest town Wasdale
The pyramid at the head of Wasdale — routes by start, the summit war memorial, and Napes Needle, birthplace of British climbing.
Read the Great Gable guide
388 m · 1,272 ft · nearest town Pooley Bridge
The best view-for-effort on Ullswater — half an hour up from Martindale to a huge summit obelisk and almost the whole lake below. A superb first fell for children.
Read the Hallin Fell guide
Route up Scafell Pike · from Seathwaite
The mountaineer's way up England's highest — from Borrowdale via Sty Head. Finer than the Wasdale path, and a serious route.
Read the Scafell Pike Corridor Route guide
298 m · 978 ft · Borrowdale
The only Wainwright under 1,000ft — a quarry-scarred little cone in the Jaws of Borrowdale, with a steep slate-scree zigzag to a big-view summit and Millican Dalton's cave on its flank.
Read the Castle Crag guide
Honest grading
Three honest bands to start from. They're guides, not guarantees — a short, steep fell in bad weather can outwork a tall one on a good day, so read the individual guides before you commit. For all 214 fells graded, use the Wainwrights difficulty filter.
Short, well-pathed and forgiving — proper summits with proper views, for first-timers and families.
A real climb and a real sense of mountain — done in an unhurried half-day with lunch on top.
Full days on high ground: navigation, proper kit and a weather check are non-negotiable.
Conditions change fast above the valley, whatever the fell's grade. Check the Lake District Weatherline fell-top forecast before you set off.
The big ones
Counting separate mountains (see the note below the table), these are the ten highest — which also makes them the ten highest in England.
| # | Mountain | Height (m) | Height (ft) | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scafell Pike | 978 | 3,209 | Southern Fells |
| 2 | Sca Fell | 964 | 3,163 | Southern Fells |
| 3 | Helvellyn | 950 | 3,117 | Eastern Fells |
| 4 | Skiddaw | 931 | 3,054 | Northern Fells |
| 5 | Great End | 910 | 2,986 | Southern Fells |
| 6 | Bowfell | 902 | 2,959 | Southern Fells |
| 7 | Great Gable | 899 | 2,949 | Western Fells |
| 8 | Pillar | 892 | 2,927 | Western Fells |
| 9 | Nethermost Pike | 891 | 2,923 | Eastern Fells |
| 10 | Catstycam | 890 | 2,920 | Eastern Fells |
Why do top-10 lists differ? It depends whether you count subsidiary tops. Ill Crag and Broad Crag (on the Scafell Pike massif) and Helvellyn Lower Man all exceed some entries in this table, but they're tops of larger mountains rather than separate ones — so some lists include them and some don't. We count separate mountains, the same honest approach as our 214-vs-240 Wainwrights note.
England's roof
Four separate mountains in the Lake District rise above 3,000 ft (914.4 m) — and since no other English peak reaches that height, these four are England's entire collection.
No. 2
964 m
3,163 ft · Southern Fells
No. 4
931 m
3,054 ft · Northern Fells
Counts that include subsidiary tops — Ill Crag and Broad Crag on the Scafell Pike massif — bring England's 3,000-footer tally to six. Either way, every one of them is Lakeland.
Plan around a base
Most people pick a base first and a fell second. Here's what's on each doorstep — with the town guides for everything else (food, parking, rainy-day back-ups).
Latrigg rises straight from the town, Catbells is a launch trip across Derwentwater, and Skiddaw — a 3,000-footer — fills the northern skyline.
Things to do in KeswickLoughrigg Fell sits between the two villages, and Helm Crag — the Lion and the Lamb — climbs straight out of Grasmere.
Things to do in Ambleside Things to do in Grasmere →Haystacks, Wainwright's favourite, overlooks the lake from the valley head — with High Stile, Red Pike and Fleetwith Pike crowding round it.
Things to do in ButtermereHelvellyn towers over Glenridding, with Catstycam and Nethermost Pike — both top-ten summits — on its shoulders.
Things to do in Glenridding The Ullswater valley guide → The Striding Edge guide →The serious end: Scafell Pike, Sca Fell, Great Gable and Pillar all stand at the head of Wast Water — England's deepest lake beneath its highest ground.
Things to do in WasdaleThe Old Man of Coniston dominates the village, with Wetherlam and the rest of the Coniston round behind — all in the Wainwrights directory.
Things to do in ConistonOur Wainwrights directory has all 214 fells with verified heights, an interactive map, and filters by difficulty and area. It's the working tool; this page is the front door.
Quick answers
Yes — the Lake District contains England's highest mountains, including every English peak above 3,000 feet. Locally the mountains are called fells, and 214 of them were catalogued by Alfred Wainwright in his Pictorial Guides.
A fell is simply the local word for a mountain or high hill, from the Old Norse fjall, left behind by Viking settlers. In the Lake District "fell" and "mountain" describe the same summits — Helvellyn is both a fell and England's third highest mountain.
Scafell Pike, at 978 m (3,209 ft), is the highest mountain in the Lake District and in England. Its neighbour Sca Fell (964 m) is second and Helvellyn (950 m) is third.
Counting separate mountains rather than subsidiary tops: Scafell Pike (978 m), Sca Fell (964 m), Helvellyn (950 m), Skiddaw (931 m), Great End (910 m), Bowfell (902 m), Great Gable (899 m), Pillar (892 m), Nethermost Pike (891 m) and Catstycam (890 m). The full table above explains why some lists differ.
The standard count is 214 — the fells Alfred Wainwright described in his seven Pictorial Guides. Other counting systems exist: Bill Birkett's list of Lakeland tops numbers 541. When people talk about "doing the fells", they almost always mean the 214 Wainwrights.
The Lake District Three Peaks challenge usually means Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Skiddaw. It's different from the National Three Peaks (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon), in which Scafell Pike is the England leg. A traditional variant uses the old county tops, swapping Skiddaw for Coniston Old Man.
By their standard walking routes they're comparable full mountain days, and Scafell Pike's rocky summit dome is the harder walk underfoot. Helvellyn becomes the harder mountain if you take Striding Edge — a Grade 1 scramble with real exposure — but it also has non-scramble walkers' routes that avoid the ridges entirely.
It depends on your experience. For a first fell, Latrigg, Loughrigg Fell or Catbells give huge views for modest effort. For a serious mountain day, Helvellyn is many people's favourite in the country — it was voted Britain's favourite walk in 2018.
Start with the difficulty groupings above: first fells (Latrigg, Loughrigg, Catbells), rewarding half-days (Helm Crag, Haystacks) and serious mountain days (Helvellyn and the big Wasdale fells). Or filter all 214 Wainwrights by difficulty.