Great Mell Fell

Great Mell Fell is an isolated hill in Cumbria’s Lake District, rising sharply from flat marshy land to 537 metres. The fell has smooth, rounded outlines with no rocky crags, only scattered boulders and the Cloven Stone near a southern barn. Its reddish conglomerate rock, formed 375 million years ago, gives the hill its distinctive colour and shape. The fell sits on a low ridge that divides river systems flowing west to the Derwent and east to the Eden. It is owned and managed by the National Trust as open access land. The fell was once well wooded and still has mixed woods of oak, rowan, birch and Scots pine on its lower eastern slopes. Badgers, roe deer and green woodpeckers live among the trees, and the last wild cat in Cumberland was snared here in the 19th century. Higher up, wind-blown larches and Scots pines show how other fells may have looked when more forested. Heather and tough grass cover the summit, where red grouse sometimes nest. A Bronze Age burial mound crowns the top, marked by a small cairn. Visitors reach the fell via paths from Brownrigg Farm or near Troutbeck along a disused rifle range. The western slope offers a steep grassy climb, while the eastern ridge provides a gentler route. From the summit there are wide views: Blencathra and the Dodds to the west, the Far Eastern and Eastern Fells to the south, and across the Eden Valley to the Pennines. The old rifle range’s target building still stands, and spent 303 rounds can be found in the butts.