Lake District
Ether Knott
420M
1378FT
About Ether Knott
Rising above Borrowdale, this craggy summit marks the highest point of the sprawling Grange Fell plateau. It offers a rugged, characteristically Cumbrian landscape of heather and volcanic rock. From the cairn, the view down the Jaws of Borrowdale towards Derwentwater provides a classic perspective on the heart of the Lake District.
Key Statistics
Rank
562nd Highest in Region
Parent Range
Central Fells
Prominence
?
97.8m
Nearest Town
Grange
Geology
You are walking across ancient layers of volcanic lava and hardened ash. These rugged rocks even contain tiny garnets and sandy debris from past eruptions.
Find It
OS Grid Reference
NY268171
Latitude
54.5444°N
Longitude
3.1325°W
Did You Know?
- •The name derives from the Old Norse 'knutr', meaning a rocky hill or 'knot', while 'Ether' likely stems from the Old English 'edre', meaning a watercourse, or the Old Norse 'eitr', referring to adders or sharp, cold winds.
- •Although Alfred Wainwright titled the chapter in his Pictorial Guide 'Grange Fell', he correctly identified the cairn on Ether Knott as the true summit of the entire fell complex.
- •The summit offers an exceptional view of the 'Jaws of Borrowdale', a dramatic narrowing of the valley where the slopes of this fell and Castle Crag almost meet, framed by the distant Skiddaw massif.
- •The surrounding land was part of the National Trust’s first major acquisition in the Lake District; it was purchased in 1910 as a memorial to King Edward VII following a public appeal led by Princess Louise.
- •The summit plateau is so densely packed with confusing rocky outcrops and heather-clad knolls that reaching the actual highest point often requires a fair amount of 'peak-testing' on several nearby rocks just to be sure.
- •It is a popular inclusion for those ticking off the Synges—a list of Lake District hills compiled by Tim Synge based on the work of Alfred Wainwright.