It rivals the Old Man of Coniston as the highest point within the traditional County Palatine of Lancashire[2] (it has been administered since 1974 as part of Cumbria for local government purposes).

The range begins at Wrynose Pass and runs south for around 10 miles (16 km) before petering out at Broughton in Furness on the Duddon Estuary.

The same survey also measured the height of nearby The Old Man of Coniston and found the highest visible natural ground to be also 802.42 metres (2,632 ft 7 in).

The surveyors state: "if one considers the area covered by the plinth on Coniston Old Man and the observation that the highest rock is probably covered by it then we believe the evidence strongly suggests there is higher ground beneath it and that, therefore, Coniston Old Man should retain its current status" [as being the highest of the Furness Fells and the historic county top of Lancashire].

This is the site of a wartime aircrash and bears the sad remains of a Royal Canadian Air Force Handley Page Halifax bomber.

The undercarriage, together with a wooden cross and memorial cairn lies on the top of the ridge with the rest of the wreckage spread down Broad Slack.

In his guidebook The Southern Fells Alfred Wainwright suggests that the plane approached from the west, failed to clear the ridge and tumbled down the other side.

Swirl Hawse Beck runs south from this ridge to feed Levers Water, whilst to the north of Wetherlam is Greenburn.

[8] The summit of Swirl How is marked by a fine cairn on a stony top, built close to the Greenburn edge of the ridge.

The view to the north takes in massed ranks of fells while in other directions the Isle of Man, Morecambe Bay and Pennines can be seen.