Hare Stones

About Hare Stones

Located on the broad, grassy shoulder of High Pike, this Northern Fell offers a gentler alternative to the craggier central Lakes. Marked by a cluster of weathered rocks, the summit provides an expansive, airy perspective across the Solway Firth to the Southern Uplands of Scotland and the nearby Skiddaw massif.

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Did You Know?

• •The name likely derives from the Old English 'har', meaning grey or ancient, referring to the cluster of lichen-covered boulders that break the smooth, grassy skyline of the fell's upper slopes.
• •Situated in the mineral-rich Caldbeck Fells, the ground around Hare Stones was once part of a landscape so lucrative for lead and copper mining that it inspired the local proverb: 'Caldbeck fells are worth all England else.'
• •While often bypassed for the higher trig pillar on High Pike, author Bill Birkett identifies this as a distinct summit, favouring its tactical rock cluster over the more uniform terrain of its immediate neighbours.
• •The summit provides an excellent vantage point for inspecting the geological contrast of the Northern Fells, looking directly across the Mungrisdale Common towards the dark, jagged profile of Blencathra.
• •From the summit stones, you gain a clear, unobstructed line of sight northward over the Solway Plain to the distinctive hump of Criffel and the hills of Dumfries and Galloway across the water.
• •It serves as a perfect refuge for those who find the summit of High Pike a little too busy, offering almost identical views with significantly fewer people to share them with.