Lake District
Silver How
393M
1291FT
About Silver How
Silver How is the quintessential Grasmere fell, offering a manageable but rewarding climb directly from the village center. Its summit plateau is a delightful maze of knolls and hollows, providing one of the finest vantage points over Grasmere lake and the higher peaks of the Easedale horseshoe.
Key Statistics
Rank
622nd Highest in Region
Parent Range
Central Fells
Prominence
?
29.7m
Nearest Town
Chapel Stile
Geology
You are walking on volcanic ash and rock fragments from the Lincomb Tarns Tuff Formation.
Classifications
Find It
Latitude
54.4507°N
Longitude
3.0429°W
Did You Know?
- •The name 'How' is a direct legacy of the Vikings, derived from the Old Norse word haugr, which translates to a hill or burial mound.
- •The fell is primarily composed of dacitic lapilli-tuff from the Lincomb Tarns Formation, a volcanic rock that resists erosion and creates the fell's famously rugged, 'bumpy' profile.
- •Allan Bank, the historic house at the base of the fell, was home to William Wordsworth and National Trust co-founder Canon Rawnsley; the Trust now maintains the primary paths up the fell.
- •The ascent via the 'Long Crag' route offers a spectacular perspective of the Rector’s Wall, a massive and impeccably built drystone boundary that drops steeply toward the valley floor.
- •The summit area is notorious for its 'false summit syndrome,' where every rocky outcrop looks like the top until you reach it and realize the actual cairn is hiding behind yet another identical bump.