Kitty Crag

Rising above the Greenburn valley north of Coniston, this modest rocky summit is a quiet outlier of the Wetherlam massif. As a Birkett and Synge, it offers a rough, pathless character typical of the Southern Fells, rewarding those who stray from the main ridges with solitude and intimate views of Little Langdale.

• •The name combines the Middle English 'crag', meaning a rocky outcrop, with 'Kitty', which in Lakeland nomenclature often refers to a local individual or a diminutive of Katherine, suggesting a historical connection to a former landowner or tenant.
• •From the summit, walkers earn a distinct perspective of the Langdale Pikes to the north, seen here from a lower, more intimate angle across the valley of Little Langdale.
• •The fell’s lower slopes overlook the industrial remains of the Greenburn Copper Works, where the ruins of a 19th-century engine house and several spoil heaps mark the valley’s mining heritage.
• •Though it lacks a primary path, the summit is often reached by traversing the undulating, craggy ground from the higher slopes of Wetherlam or as part of a circuit starting from Tilberthwaite.
• •It is the sort of summit where you may spend more time consulting your map to verify you have reached the highest outcrop than you do actually standing on it.