Is High Stile a Wainwright?
Yes. High Stile is one of the 214 Wainwrights: number 20 of 33 in Book 7, The Western Fells, of Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
Climbing High Stile from Buttermere village car park
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High Stile is 806 m high, 30th of the 214 Wainwrights by height, and belongs to the Western Fells in Book 7. This route climbs it from a car park in Buttermere village. Parking is paid and the car park sits at about 110 m. The Court Hotel bus stop, about 140 m away, is served by the 77 and 77A.
The line is 4.3 km long and gains about 740 m. The first 1.5 km stay low, between about 100 m and 145 m. A service road leads to a bridleway, which crosses Buttermere Dubs at about 870 m, over a short section with a wood surface on the map, then Sourmilk Gill, and passes Buttermere. OpenStreetMap grades this short stretch hiking and then mountain hiking.
The bridleway continues to about 1.6 km, and footpaths take over. The climbing builds steadily: about 175 m at 2 km, 460 m at 3 km and 790 m at 3.9 km. At about 4 km the route passes a point OpenStreetMap names High Stile (summit), at around 800 m, then dips slightly before the highest point.
The last 260 m are a grassy bridleway that OpenStreetMap grades demanding mountain hiking, a step harder than the rest of the route. It ends a few metres from the summit cairn at 806 m.
About 3.5 km of the line follows public footpaths and bridleways, and 2.6 km crosses open access land.
The GPX file is the same line, from the car park to the cairn. Return the same way, or plan another 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 High Stile stands
Nearest Wainwrights
- Red Pike (Buttermere)1.0 km away · 755 m
- High Crag (Buttermere)1.5 km away · 745 m
- Starling Dodd2.7 km away · 633 m
- Pillar2.7 km away · 892 m
- Haystacks (Buttermere)3.1 km away · 597 m
Straight-line distances between summits.
All the fells in The Western 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.