Wainwrights Baggers

Book 3 · The Central Fells

High Rigg

A 356 m Wainwright in The Central Fells, with one desk-checked ascent from Legburthwaite car park: 3.3 km and 280 m of climbing.

Explore High Rigg in 3D

Is High Rigg a Wainwright?

Yes. High Rigg is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 12 of 27 in Book 3, The Central Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

Climbing High Rigg from Legburthwaite car park

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BP500 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 High Rigg from Legburthwaite car park, run by United Utilities. Parking is paid and the car park sits at about 160 m. The Dam road end bus stop at Stanah, about 210 m away, is served by the 555.

The line is 3.3 km long and gains about 280 m. The first 400 m are almost level on a track, a lane and short paths. The route crosses How Beck at about 210 m, then follows the main road for about 40 m, crossing St. John's Beck at about 360 m.

Between 0.4 km and 1.1 km the path climbs from about 170 m to 300 m and passes Wren Crag. After that the line runs along the fell for about 2 km, rising and falling between about 290 m and 320 m. It passes High Rigg SE Top at about 2.7 km, and the last 300 m climb to the top at 356 m, where a cairn is mapped. None of the paths are graded for difficulty on the map.

About 2.9 km of the line crosses open access land, and about 100 m follows a public footpath. The first 335 m, from the car park to the main road, are on neither in the data.

High Rigg is 356 m high, 209th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Central Fells in Book 3.

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

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 High Rigg stands

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

Nearest Wainwrights

Straight-line distances between summits.

All the fells in The Central 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.