Seat Robert

About Seat Robert

Tucked away in the quiet Far Eastern Fells near Shap, Seat Robert is a modest but fascinating summit. It's part of a classic Wainwright circuit, offering a real sense of solitude steeped in the history of the ancient 'Old Corpse Road' that runs nearby.

Key Statistics

Find It

Did You Know?

• •Part of the approach to this fell follows the Old Corpse Road, a rather macabre ancient path. For centuries, this was the route used to carry the dead from the isolated valley of Mardale over the fells to the consecrated ground at Shap Abbey for burial.
• •Don't expect the usual concrete trig pillar at the top here. The summit is marked by a simple cairn and a less common Ordnance Survey 'ring' bolt set into the rock at ground level, a subtle nod to the surveyors who first mapped these wild fells.
• •Seat Robert earned its place in hillwalking fame thanks to Alfred Wainwright, who dedicated a chapter to it in his book 'The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'. His route isn't a simple up-and-down but a classic circuit, taking in several other small tops for a grand day out.
• •The fell's name is a bit of a local mystery. While 'Seat' often refers to a summit or settlement in Cumbrian dialect, nobody's quite sure who Robert was. He may have been a local shepherd or landowner whose name is now forever etched on the map.
• •This isn't a fell for dramatic, rocky scrambles; its character is one of sprawling, often boggy, moorland and wide-open spaces. Your reward is a deep sense of remoteness and unusual views eastward towards the Pennines, a perspective you don't get from the central fells.