Mellbreak

Mellbreak
Mellbreak seen from Grasmoor summit. Three km to the east.
Highest point
Elevation	512 m (1,680 ft)
Prominence	260 m (850 ft)
Parent peak	High Stile
Listing	Marilyn, Wainwright
Coordinates	54°33′20″N 3°19′08″W / 54.55544°N 3.31889°W / 54.55544; -3.31889Coordinates: 54°33′20″N 3°19′08″W / 54.55544°N 3.31889°W / 54.55544; -3.31889
Geography
Mellbreak Location in Lake District, UK
Location	Cumbria, England
Parent range	Lake District, Western Fells
OS grid	NY148186
Topo map	OS Landranger 89, Explorer OL4

Mellbreak is a hill in the Western part of the English Lake District. Despite being surrounded on all sides by higher fells (the Loweswater Fells, the High Stile Ridge and the Grasmoor Group), it stands in isolation. It is surrounded on three sides by a "moat" of deep marshy land, and on the east side by the lake of Crummock Water. The fell forms a partnership with the lake, running parallel to it, falling sheer into it, and regularly providing the backdrop for pictures of it.

Mellbreak's name is derived from differing sources: the Celtic "moel", meaning "bare hill", and the later Old Norse of the Vikings, "brekka", which means a hill slope.

The Western Fells occupy a triangular sector of the Lake District, bordered by the River Cocker to the north east and Wasdale to the south east. Westwards the hills diminish toward the coastal plain of Cumberland. At the central hub of the high country are Great Gable and its satellites, while two principal ridges fan out on either flank of Ennerdale, the western fells in effect being a great horseshoe around this long wild valley. Mellbreak and the other Loweswater Fells form the extremity of the northern arm.

The Loweswater Fells have been compared to the digits of a hand, radiating out south westward from the "palm" centred on Loweswater village. From the west these are Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell, Gavel Fell, Hen Comb and Mellbreak, the "thumb". To continue the hand metaphor, the opposing thumb of Mellbreak is the tenuous northern extremity of Starling Dodd, whilst the other Loweswater Fells are satellites of Great Borne.