Wainwrights Baggers

Book 4 · The Southern Fells

Black Fell

A 323 m Wainwright in The Southern Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from Tarn Hows car park: 3.1 km and 150 m of climbing.

Explore Black Fell in 3D

Is Black Fell a Wainwright?

Yes. Black Fell is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 2 of 30 in Book 4, The Southern Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing Black Fell from Tarn Hows car park

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P500 m
The route in green, from the car park (P) to the summit (triangle), with the bus stop (B) where it falls on the map and nearby Wainwrights as dots. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

This route climbs Black Fell from the National Trust's Tarn Hows car park. Parking is paid and the car park sits at about 205 m. The Holling Brow bus stop, about 1 km away in a straight line, is served by the 505.

The line is 3.1 km long but gains only about 150 m. For the first 2 km it stays almost level, between about 195 m and 225 m. Much of this is on paths and footways with a compacted surface on the map, and the route passes Tarn Hows at about 0.6 km.

At about 1.7 km a short track leads to a bridleway, which carries the route for about 1.1 km. The climbing is in the last kilometre and a bit: about 245 m at 2.2 km, 285 m at 2.6 km and 318 m at 3.1 km. A footway covers the final 120 m to the summit at 323 m. None of the line is graded for difficulty on the map, and no cairn or trig pillar is mapped at the top.

About 1.9 km of the line follows public footpaths, bridleways and a short byway, and 1.5 km crosses open access land.

Black Fell is 323 m high, 212th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Southern Fells in Book 4.

The GPX file is the same line, from Tarn Hows car park to the summit. Return the same way, or plan a longer walk with a map before you set out.

Download the GPXFree. The route is © OpenStreetMap contributors and the file is released under the Open Database Licence: you may copy, share and adapt it.

Where Black Fell stands

1 · Eastern2 · Far Eastern3 · Central4 · Southern5 · Northern6 · North Western7 · WesternBlack Fell
Black Fell among all 214 Wainwright summits, each in its true position.

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The Southern FellsAll 214 Wainwrights

Map and route data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Heights along the route from OS Terrain 50. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (NaPTAN, Bus Open Data Service, Lake District National Park Authority rights of way).

Access land © Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Heights, grid references and summit positions come from The Database of British and Irish Hills v18.3, used under CC BY 4.0.