Brae Fell is a fell

Fell

“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...

 in the English Lake District

Lake District

The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

, situated 12 kilometres north of Keswick

Keswick, Cumbria

Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...

 it reaches a height of 586 m (1,923 ft) and is regarded as part of the Caldbeck

Caldbeck

Caldbeck is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale, Cumbria, England. Historically within Cumberland, the village had 714 inhabitants according to the census of 2001. It lies on the northern edge of the Lake District. The nearest town is Wigton, 6 miles north east of the village...

 Fells along with High Pike

High Pike (Caldbeck)

High Pike is a fell in the northern part of the English Lake District, it is located 4.5 kilometres south of Caldbeck. It has a height of 658 metres and is the most northerly of the Lakeland fells over 2000 feet. It is a large fell with its northern slopes falling away towards the lower ground...

 and Carrock Fell

Carrock Fell

Carrock Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, situated in the northern region of the national park 13 kilometres north east of Keswick. The fell's name means "Rocky Fell" and comes from a combination of the Old Welsh language with the word "carrec" meaning rock and the Old Norse language...

 even though it has ridge links to the Uldale Fells. The fell's name has Scottish overtones and translates from the Scots language

Scots language

Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...

 as a hillside or slope. Its northern flanks face the Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

 country across the Eden Valley

River Eden, Cumbria

The River Eden is a river that flows through Cumbria, England on its way to the Solway Firth.-Course of river:The Eden rises in Black Fell Moss, Mallerstang, on the high ground between High Seat, Yorkshire Dales and Hugh Seat. Here it forms the boundary between the counties of Cumbria and North...

 and Solway Firth

Solway Firth

The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

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Topography

Brae Fell is large and grassy and is really an outlying part of Great Sca Fell

Great Sca Fell

Great Sca Fell is a fell in the English Lake District, it stands seven kilometres southwest of the village of Caldbeck and is the highest of the four Uldale Fells .-Topography:...

 being situated on that fell's northern ridge separated by a col with a height of approximately 570 metres. With a height of less than 2000 feet and prominence

Topographic prominence

In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...

 of around 16 metres it fails to be a fell of real importance. Alfred Wainwright

Alfred Wainwright

Alfred Wainwright MBE was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the...

 gives it a chapter in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells

Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells

A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells of the Lake District in northwest England...

, being less than complimentary, saying, “If all hills were like Brae Fell there would be far fewer fell walkers”. It is best viewed from the low ground to the north where it shows off its full height. Brae Fell was mined in the nineteenth century for Lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

, the mine lies on its eastern slopes just above Roughton Gill and there are large spoil tips remaining to this day.

Ascents

Brae Fell is often climbed in conjunction with other fells in the area. A direct ascent of the fell is usually undertaken from the minor road that skirts the northern slopes, there is no fence so the climb can start anywhere along its length. There is a vague path amongst the grass which leads to the summit.

Summit and View

The top of the fell is strewn with a few boulders and there is a fair sized cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

 which is a landmark for several kilometres around. The view from the summit is one of the finest in the Northern Fells

Northern Fells

The Northern Fells are a group of hills in the English Lake District. Including Skiddaw, they occupy a wide area to the north of Keswick. Smooth sweeping slopes predominate with a minimum of tarns or crags...

, with the panorama north taking in the Solway Firth, Scottish Borders and the northern Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

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