Wainwrights Baggers

Book 1 · The Eastern Fells

Fairfield

A 873 m Wainwright in The Eastern Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from Broadgate Meadow car park, Grasmere: 5.7 km and 840 m of climbing.

Explore Fairfield in 3D

Is Fairfield a Wainwright?

Yes. Fairfield is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 8 of 35 in Book 1, The Eastern Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing Fairfield from Broadgate Meadow car park, Grasmere

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Dove CragGreat RiggHart CragHelm CragHeron Pike (Rydal)High Pike (Scandale)Low PikeNab ScarSeat SandalStone ArthurBP1 km
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 Fairfield from Broadgate Meadow car park in Grasmere village. Parking is paid, the car park is run by Westmorland and Furness Council, and it sits at about 70 m. The Village Hall bus stop, about 70 m away, is served by the 555, 559 and 599.

The line is 5.7 km long and gains about 840 m. The first 1.3 km stay below about 130 m, on footways and lanes out of the village, including Broadgate and Swan Lane. It crosses the River Rothay at about 360 m and Greenhead Gill at about 470 m. The Stone Arthur route shares the first 2.6 km of this line.

From there a path climbs steadily: about 310 m at 2 km, 540 m at 3 km and 710 m at 4 km. It passes Stone Arthur at about 2.7 km and Great Rigg at about 4.2 km. Beyond Great Rigg the line drops to about 735 m between 4.4 km and 4.7 km, then climbs the last kilometre to the summit cairn at 873 m. Only the final 30 m are graded, as mountain hiking.

About 4.8 km of the line follows public footpaths, 4.3 km crosses open access land and about 420 m is on roads. About 350 m, near the car park and on a footway at about 0.7 km, is on none of these in the data. Fairfield is 873 m high, 13th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Eastern Fells in Book 1.

The GPX file is the same line, from the car park to the summit. Return the same way, or work out a different descent 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 Fairfield stands

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

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The Eastern 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.