The History of Welsh Hill Lists – Part 2
The Early Years
1911-1940
1912 – John Rooke Corbett
Only a year after the ‘Twenty-Fives’ had
been published an update to the list appeared.
During the intervening year members of the Rucksack Club had scrutinised
maps of the time and come across seven omissions from the original list. Five of these are in England, including the
infamous Pillar Rock and The Knowe on Harter Fell, which was believed to be the
only twenty-five Mr Minor had not been up.
Although input had been received from a
number of club members the update was assigned to John Rooke Corbett with his initials J.R.C. appearing at the end of
the article. The update to the
‘Twenty-Fives’ appeared on page 166 in the 1912
publication of the Rucksack Club Journal Vol II, No. 2 and is entitled ‘Excursions’.
After an introductory
paragraph with the lead heading of Twenty-Fives, the mountains are listed. These are indented from the text of the
article and only appear in name, with no height given. Some have a brief explanation to their
whereabouts. Of the seven listed only
two are in Wales, these are Cader Berwyn,
on the Berwyn Ridge; and Pen-y-Nantllyn, between Gader Fawr and Waun Fach. Corbett explains
that there is a case for the inclusion of Gallt-y-Gogof,
which the Ordnance Surveyors had given a height of 2,499 feet above sea level. He explains that the mountain could be thought
of as being 2,500 feet high at low tide as unsatisfactory, as it is always low
tide at some point on the coast of Britain and high tide at some other point. Other thoughts are also expressed as it was
countered this peak should be included if any person more than two feet high
was to stand on its summit, then the greater part of their anatomy had attained
the required altitude. The conclusion
being that the peak might be counted as a Twenty-Five if when standing on the
top, the person should leap at least one foot into the air.
The 1912 one page update to John Rooke Corbett's 'Twenty-Fives' |
The 1912 article set a precedent that many a hill list author over subsequent years would follow, as it is the first update to a hill list that ever appeared, it would not be the last to the list known as the ‘Twenty-Fives’, but for that we will have to wait another seventeen years. After Corbett’s 1912 update to his original list fourteen years were to pass before the next list appeared.
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