Carrock Fell is also the site of an Iron Age hill fort which crowns the summit. Only the foundations of the walls remain. The fort is oval shaped and is believed to have been built by the Celts and destroyed by the Romans in their conquest of northern England. Carrock Fell's other claim to historical fame is that it was climbed by well-known British novelists Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins in 1857 during a tour of northern Cumberland. Dickens had read about the fell and had made up his mind to climb it.