Wild Boar Fell

Dominating the skyline above Mallerstang, this broad sandstone plateau offers a sense of immense scale. Its eastern flank drops away in dramatic crags, providing a stark contrast to the sprawling, often boggy summit. A line of impressive stone cairns guards the edge, overlooking the Settle-Carlisle railway snaking through the valley far below.

• •The name is a literal nod to the local legend that the last wild boar in England was killed on these slopes by Sir Richard Musgrave of Hartley Castle around 1409; a tusk believed to belong to the beast was kept in Kirkby Stephen church for centuries.
• •While technically part of the Yorkshire Dales, the fell was included by Alfred Wainwright in his 'Outlying Fells' guide; he regarded it as the finest of the Mallerstang hills, describing its appearance from the north as 'stately and magnificent'.
• •A distinctive line of tall stone cairns, known locally as 'stone men,' stands sentinel along the edge of The Nab, the fell's dramatic eastern escarpment. These structures were built to be seen from the valley floor and serve as unmistakable landmarks in poor visibility.
• •The summit plateau provides an exceptional vantage point for the smooth, velvet-like slopes of the Howgill Fells to the west, while looking south reveals the unmistakable profiles of the Yorkshire Three Peaks: Whernside, Ingleborough, and Pen-y-ghent.
• •The summit plateau is famously sprawling and saturated; on a misty day, the primary challenge is the navigational willpower required to avoid a slow, soggy immersion in the peat hags while searching for the actual high point.