Allen Crags

Allen Crags is a fell in the Lake District’s Scafell group, standing at the southern end of a six-kilometre ridge that runs from Stonethwaite in Borrowdale to the Esk Hause pass. Its name comes from ‘Alein’ or ‘Aleyn’, a Breton personal name common after the Norman conquest. The fell is craggy on its eastern side, dropping steeply into the Langstrath valley, while its western flanks slope more gently down to Grains Gill. To the north it joins Glaramara by a three-kilometre ridge with three subsidiary tops, and to the south it falls eighty metres to Esk Hause, a key pass linking to Esk Pike and Great End. The fell’s summit rocks are laminated volcaniclastic claystones and siltstones of the Esk Pike Formation, with a narrow andesite intrusion cutting across the high point. Most of the ridge shows welded lapilli tuff from the Lincomb Tarns Formation beneath. Walkers often reach the top via the northern ridge from Glaramara, though a direct route climbs from Seathwaite through Grains Gill to Esk Hause and then up the fell. The fell also features in a longer horseshoe walk from Seathwaite that includes Seathwaite Fell and Glaramara. At the summit three cairns mark the highest point, the middle one on rocks being the true top. The best view is of Great Gable, while the northern horizon stretches from west to east across the fells. The southern view is partly blocked by higher ground, but the northern panorama remains impressive. The ridge’s varied rock types and the walker’s routes make Allen Crags a rewarding climb within a popular group of Lakeland fells.