The History of
Welsh Hill Lists – Part 8
The Early
Years
1950-1962
1950 – Arthur St George Walsh
During analysing the
previous listings in this article two aspects became evident in how a list
compiler defines a mountain. The first
is the minimum designated height - Corbett chose 2,500 feet, Parker 3,000 feet,
whilst Carr and Lister and subsequently Ted Moss chose 2,000 feet. The second aspect used in defining a mountain
is its separation from adjacent ground - Carr and Lister attempted a
classification based on a minimum of 100 feet of ascent from the mountains
connecting col to any higher ground, this is sometimes referred to as the
minimum re-ascent rule within the pages of this article, Corbett and Moss chose
a definition depending upon a single ring contour at a 50 foot interval. By choosing this 50 foot contour option their
resulting lists were open to include inconsequential rises. Moss’s quoted reference to the two Craig
Berwyn tops sums up this problem, but by emphasising the chosen contour to be
one of 50 foot they had taken the first step toward this designated height
being used as a minimum re-ascent rule.
After Ted Moss’s 1940 publication another ten years were to pass before
this criterion was eventually used in a published article.
The first person to use a minimum re-ascent
criterion of 50 foot as a basis of a Welsh hill list and have his detailed
findings published, is little known and almost lost in the annals of time. His name is Arthur St. George Walsh.
 |
| Arthur St George Walsh, photo dated 1923 (photo courtesy of King's School, Chester) |
After leaving Stockport Grammar School he won a
scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics. This helped in giving him the grounding in
methodical detail that was all too necessary in what Walsh was later to
attempt.
When the First World War broke out, he was still
studying at Cambridge. Applying for a
commission at Christmas time 1914, he was gazetted a 2nd lieutenant in the 15th
Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on the 22nd March 1915. Walsh
later became a Captain and served in the Middle East (photographs showing him
climbing Mt Hermon and trekking through the Sinai desert still exist), France
and finally the Dolomites. Walsh was transferred to the Dolomites from what was
to become the slaughter of the Somme, something he believed saved his life, as
well as providing him with good climbing experiences.
Having survived the war he analysed the fate of his
closest friends. Of twenty nine, six
were still fit, seven were permanently disabled and sixteen, including his
brother, Geoffrey Christian Lansdale, were dead. He later reflected upon his wartime
experiences: “While war is about heroism and sacrifice, it is also about
carnage, waste and gross stupidity.”
After the war he resumed his education at Trinity
Hall. His first appointment after
leaving college was as a schoolmaster teaching mathematics at Cambridge High
School. In 1925 he moved to Kings
School, Chester, where his career as a Maths Master began. One of his pupils during the late 1920’s was
to form an integral part in the story of Mr Walsh and his hill list; the
pupil’s name was Walter Slowing Matthews.
During this time Walsh and his brother Roger Crompton, or ‘Skip’ as he
later became known, (Roger became the leader of his local Chelford Scout troop,
hence the name Skip) were Top collecting with the aid of the late Victorian
‘Baddeley’s Guide to the English Lake District’. Arthur and Roger then came upon Carr and
Lister’s use of 100 foot rise as the main qualification for their list of 2,000
footers of Snowdonia. Soon afterwards
the Walsh brothers decided to make their own lists for England and Wales, using
a 50 foot rise as part of their criteria.
 |
| Arthur St George Walsh, photo from the 1920s (photo courtesy of King's Scool, Chester) |
With the outbreak of the Second World War hill
expeditions were curtailed. During this
time Walsh found work, of a national importance with the Forestry Commission,
outside of his teaching. After the end
of the war, Walsh’s hill walking parties resumed, mainly made up of ex-King’s
School Chester men. It was on one of these
meets that a young schoolboy, Walter Matthews’s son, David, first met ‘Mr.
Walsh’. David although still very young
could certainly not be described as ill experienced amongst the hills, as his
father had led him up his first mountain, Rhinog Fawr, in July 1948 at the age
of 3 years and 10 months. It is David
Matthews who, along with his father Walter, share responsibility for the
survival of Arthur St. George Walsh’s hill list.
Within the 1950 edition of the Wayfarers’ Journal Walsh published
a seven page article entitled The 2000-footers of England (and Wales). He categorises the mountains within his list
into three classes, and explains why; “The trouble of course is that often
there is no means of determining whether the drop is more or less than 50 feet,
short of taking a tame surveyor (plus instruments) around with one”. In view of this Walsh devised his three
classes, namely; ‘definitely 50 ft drop, marked with a tick √’, ‘doubtful,
marked with a question mark ?’ and definitely not 50 ft drop, marked with an
x’. Walsh’s Welsh part of his list
evolved over time from investigating all spot levels given on the Ordnance
Survey one-inch Coloured Edition map which had contours at 250 foot intervals,
all spot levels given on the Ordnance Survey one-inch Popular Edition map which
had contours at 50 foot intervals, all points which seemed possible on the
ground and all points given in Carr and Lister’s 1925 publication and Ted
Moss’s list of 1940.
IMG_9459%2B(2).jpg) |
| The front cover to the 1950 Wayfarers' Club Journal |
Walsh then splits each area into sections via
dividing lines that represent railways or roads. The third page of the article has a
representative Welsh area within which is Walsh’s sections. These are given letters from A-P, for
example, section D’s boundary lines connect Caernarvon,
Rhyd-ddu and Penygroes, Table 1 on the fifth page of the article has only one
mountain listed in section D. This is
categorised in Walsh’s classes with a tick, the mountain in question is Mynydd Mawr which Walsh classifies as
having definitely 50 foot drop, the process is repeated for each mountain in
each section, it works remarkably easily.
The article continues with Walsh’s Table 1, which
is a finished tabulation of numbers of mountains in each section and each
class, a representation of this Table will follow shortly. The article finishes with a further three
Tables. Table 2 details the Ordnance
Survey and previous list data. Table 3
shows Walsh’s detailed workings to the Pennine area; section H in the English
part of his list. Lastly Table 4, the
‘summary of 2,000 ft lists’, this itemises Walsh’s overall figures for his
Lakes, Wales and Pennine areas.
A
representation of the Welsh part of Walsh’s Table 1, which is a finished
tabulation of numbers of mountains in each section and each class,
follows. The Table is as Walsh’s, except
that for ease of reference I have included the title of each class and mountain
group name for each section, these have been inserted between brackets to
distinguish them from Walsh’s original Table, also included are Walsh’s totals
from his list that he gave to Walter Matthews in the early 1930’s, again these
have been inserted between brackets to distinguish them from Walsh’s 1950
numbers, the details concerning the early 1930’s list and its totals are
explained after the Table.
The
only part of Walsh’s list that has ever been published is the workings to his
Section H, in the Pennine area, which was reproduced in his Table 3. This is meticulously detailed and takes the
reader through the process of how Walsh determined his six definitely 50 foot
mountains and his eight definitely not 50 foot mountains for this particular
section. Although it is unknown if such
thorough and detailed workings ever existed for each of Walsh’s sections, my
suspicion is that they did, and that the tantalising details of his workings
for the Pennine area, Section H, were not just produced for the benefit of his
Wayfarers’ Journal article. I suspect
this was just a segment of his overall workings and was only published to show
the reader how Walsh had arrived at his conclusions.
IMG_9464%2B(2).jpg) |
| The 2000-footers of England and Wales. Arthur's article in the 1950 Wayfarers' Club journal; page 31 |
IMG_9468%2B(2).jpg) |
| The 2000-footers of England and Wales. Arthur's article in the 1950 Wayfarers' Club Journal; pages 32 and 33 |
IMG_9470%2B(2).jpg) |
| The 2000-footers of England and Wales. Arthur's article in the 1950 Wayfarers' Club Journal; pages 34 and 35 |
IMG_9472%2B(2).jpg) |
| The 2000-footers of England and Wales. Arthur's article in the 1950 Wayfarers' Club Journal; pages 36 and 37 |
Although
a few brief notes of Walsh’s on the ground findings are still in existence, it
is one of the great tragedies of Welsh hill list history that the great
majority of Arthur St. George Walsh’s detailed workings to his list no longer
exist. Extensive and exhaustive research
has led me to believe that the only part of his actual list to survive is that
which he hand wrote and gave to Walter Matthews in the early 1930’s. This now exists only in typed format,
something that Walter Matthews instigated in the early 1950’s. The typed list is an exact copy of Walsh’s
list of the early 1930’s. The only other
option for copies of Walsh’s list to still exist would be with other King’s
School children who accompanied him on his many hill outings.
The
details of his early 1930’s list are as follows. The list is made up of twenty five A4 sheets
of paper, with five sheets for the Pennines, nine sheets for Wales with the
Lakes incorporating ten sheets and lastly the Isle of Man one sheet. Each sheet is entitled “Mountains of England
and Wales 2000″ +”.
Details include Walsh’s designated ‘section’ and the mountains
incorporated within, with their ‘height’, if their top was assigned with a
‘cairn’ or not, ‘date’ of ascent and lastly space for ‘notes’. Each of these appears in column format. No Ordnance Survey or grid reference detail
is given.
Therefore
we have two sets of numbers, one from the early 1930’s and one from Walsh’s
1950 article. This now leads us on to
unpublished lists, of which Walsh’s is the first, but certainly not the last,
that we will deal with within the context of this article, and there lies the
problem. This article’s brief is to
analyse hill lists in a chronological order.
The problem we face is when to date an unpublished list. Published lists are obviously easy to date,
as although many months, if not years of collation and work has gone into the
list, the date is set by the publication date.
Whereas most unpublished hill lists evolve over time, Arthur St. George
Walsh’s is no exception. I have decided
that as Walsh’s findings appeared in a published
article
it would be more appropriate if the early 1930’s list was analysed at the same
time as his 1950 article.
Although many unpublished works are only updated
when details concerning new heights on ever more detailed maps arise, Walsh’s
list is one of the rare exceptions, as he, his brother Roger and a select few
of the ex- King’s school participants of Walsh’s hill walking parties were
surveying these mountains on the ground, attempting to ascertain if the
designated bump did or did not have the required 50 foot of rise on all sides
to be included in his ever developing list.
What are uncertain are the surveying techniques Walsh and his colleagues
employed. The probability is that they
relied upon subjective on the spot judgment.
If so, accurate measurements were difficult to attain, but detailed
analysis of their various promotions and demotions lead me to conclude that
many were remarkably correct. By relying
not just upon map data but also on the spot surveying of hills, Walsh’s totals
were ever changing, as can be seen in the forthcoming representation of Walsh’s
Table 1.
SECTION
|
Definitely 50ft.
|
(Doubtful)
|
(Definitely not 50ft)
|
Points Investigated
|
A. (Carneddau)
|
17 (17)
|
7 (3)
|
9 (0)
|
33
|
B (Glyders)
|
9 (10)
|
4 (0)
|
2 (0)
|
15
|
C (Snowdon)
|
8 ( 8)
|
6 (0)
|
5 (0)
|
19
|
D (Mynydd Mawr)
|
1 ( 1)
|
0 (0)
|
0 (0)
|
1
|
E (Moelwyns – Manods)
|
3 ( 3)
|
0 (0)
|
1 (0)
|
4
|
F (Moelwyns-Moel Siabod, Moelwyn Mawr)
|
8 ( 9)
|
1 (0)
|
1 (0)
|
10
|
G (Moel Hebog & Nantlle Ridge)
|
8 ( 8)
|
1 (1)
|
1 (1)
|
10
|
H (Arenigs-Arenig Fach, Foel Goch,Carnedd
& Filiast)
|
4 ( 4)
|
3 (1)
|
1 (0)
|
8
|
I (Arenigs-Arenig Fawr, Rhobell Fawr)
|
7 ( 7)
|
3 (0)
|
9 (0)
|
19
|
J (Rhinogs)
|
7 ( 8)
|
4 (0)
|
6 (0)
|
17
|
K (Berwyns & Hirnants)
|
22 (19)
|
10 (4)
|
14 (0)
|
46
|
L (Cadair Idris, Dyfi’s, Tarrens &
Arans)
|
20 (20)
|
8 (2)
|
15 (0)
|
43
|
M (Pumlumon)
|
4 ( 4)
|
4 (0)
|
6 (0)
|
14
|
N (Black Mountains)
|
12 (12)
|
1 (1)
|
12 (0)
|
25
|
0 (Central Wales & Cefn yr Ystrad)
|
7 (
7)
|
0 (0)
|
4 (0)
|
11
|
P (Brecon Beacons, Fforest Fawr &
Mynydd Du)
|
17 (18)
|
7 (2)
|
6 (0)
|
30
|
TOTAL
|
154 (155)
|
59 (14)
|
92 (1)
|
305
|
With details of his early
1930’s list having been incorporated within the representation of his Table 1,
comparisons between his three classes can now be made against the number of
hills listed in his 1950 article:
Definitely
50 ft
The overall numbers in the
definitely 50 foot class are remarkably similar between the 155 in the early
1930’s list and the 154 in Walsh’s 1950 article. Eleven out of Walsh’s sixteen sections match
exactly with only Section K – to the Berwyn mountains being out by more than
one. Between the list’s origination and
its published 1950 tabulation Walsh had continued his on the spot surveys and
therefore an occasional top would be promoted or demoted between the three classes.
Doubtful
Comparing the two sets of
numbers in his doubtful class is different.
Whilst fifty nine are listed in his 1950 article, only fourteen received
this classification in his early 1930’s list.
Seven of these are listed with one question mark ‘?’ after the
mountain’s name, with six receiving two question marks ‘??’ following their
respective name. One other; Llechwedd
Llyfn, which Walsh names Gylchedd S.W.
has ‘(probably)’ inserted in brackets after its name, this mountain is in part
of the Arennig, Walsh’s Section H. I
have taken this as being classified in his doubtful class but ‘probably’
awaiting promotion to his definitely 50 foot class. My suspicion is that the fourteen hills given
‘doubtful’ classification in his early 1930’s list were either the only ones
Walsh had visited and therefore recorded up until giving a handwritten list to
Walter Matthews or that Walsh had by this stage visited the great majority of
his doubtful classification and only fourteen were considered for possible
promotion to his definitely 50 foot class.
I consider the former of these two options to be nearer the truth, as we
know Walsh and his colleagues were still surveying mountains after his 1950
article had been published.
Definitely not 50ft
The two sets of numbers in
the definitely not 50 foot class are vastly different, ninety two in his 1950
article and only one in his early 1930’s list, and even this one is slightly
contentious. The mountain in question is
Y Garn, at the end of the Nantlle
Ridge and in Walsh’s Section G. The
mountain’s name is in brackets and has ‘not a top’ typed after it. Walter Matthews has added a handwritten
question mark following the ‘not a top’, possibly inferring that the question
mark was missed during the typing of the handwritten list. It is slightly contentious on my part to
include this mountain in this class as the lack of a typed question mark is
probably a typographical error and the mountain considered as a doubtful. But whilst analysing Walsh’s list I have
endeavoured to be consistent, this is why I have strictly adhered to the typed
list and included Y Garn in the definitely not 50 foot class in Walsh’s early
1930’s list. The remaining ninety one in
this class are not in his early 1930’s list as there was no reason to do so, as
in Walsh’s opinion they had definitely not reached the 50 foot of rise on all
sides needed for inclusion within his actual list.
There are no dramatic
revelations of new found mountains in the Welsh part of his late 1920’s, early
1930’s list. These would have to wait
until the more detailed metric mapping of the mid 1980’s. What the list does show us is how reliant a
list compiler is upon the tools of their trade – these are the maps of the
day. The one-inch Ordnance Survey maps
of Walsh’s day were renowned for occasional glaring inaccuracies. Sometimes a mountain that was obviously there
on the ground did not possess any ring contours on the map, and if the weather
was inclement and the visibility obscured, the hill walker/peak bagger of the
day would have no means of knowing that the continuing downward slope did in
fact begin to rise quite dramatically only another quarter of a mile or so
further on. These glaring errors were
all too frequent. Examples of these can
be seen in the forthcoming Table A.
Walsh relied upon the accuracy
of the map as any other list compiler would.
Therefore mountains that we now know do not possess the 50 foot of rise
on all sides required to enter his list, were included because the one-inch map
had, in fact, given them two contour rings and, therefore, supposedly at least
50 foot of rise on all sides. Examples
of these can be seen in the forthcoming Table B. Even some of these, in time, were queried on
the ground as Walsh and, latterly, Walter Matthews worked their way through the
mountains in the doubtful class. Walter
Matthews’s part in the progress of Walsh’s list will not be discussed just
yet. Although an integral part in the
survival of the list and its developing changes, we will wait another twenty
three years before discussing in detail Walter Matthews’s part in ‘Mr. Walsh’s’
list.
IMG_9475%2B(2).jpg) |
| An excerpt from a letter from Arthur St George Walsh to Ted Moss (letter re-published courtesy of Richard Moss) |
The likelihood is that Arthur
St. George Walsh’s list is the earliest comprehensive listing to the 2,000 foot
mountains of England and Wales and pre-dates Ted Moss’s workings to ‘The
Two-Thousands of England (excluding the Lake District)’ and ‘The Two-Thousands
of Wales’ by possibly four to seven years.
Moss’s two lists were published in 1939 and 1940 respectively. With their respective pre-publishing workings
probably taking place from the mid 1930’s onwards. Because of this list’s historical
significance and as it remains unpublished in its entirety and, therefore, not
in the public domain, it is worthwhile detailing in depth two aspects of its
Welsh content.
Table A
Mountains that have at least
30 metres rise from their connecting col to the next higher ground but are not included in Arthur St. George
Walsh’s Welsh part of his late 1920’s, early 1930’s list.
Section
|
Name
(In
List)
|
Height
(In
List)
|
Comments
|
One
Inch Map Details
|
Mountain
Group
|
Grid
Reference
|
Name
|
A
|
Garnedd
Uchaf
|
2950+
|
A.St.J.included
2??
|
No.107.
1947 Edition 1 Ring Contour.
|
Carneddau
|
687 669
|
Carnedd
Uchaf
|
K
|
Not
in List
Not
mentioned by A.St.G.
|
No.117.
1963 Edition. 1 Ring Contour
|
Berwyn
|
072 324
|
Craig
Berwyn
|
||
K
|
E
of Nant y Sarn
|
2127
|
Included
by W.S.M
.A.St.G.
included 1?
|
No.117.
1963 Edition. 6 Ring Contours
|
Berwyn
|
996 314
|
Foel
Cwm Sarn Llwyd
|
K
|
1m
NNE of F.Y.Geifr
|
2000+
|
W.S.M.
crosses out
|
No.117.1963
Edition. 2 Ring Contours.
|
Berwyn
|
943 291
|
Foel
Goch
|
L
|
Cyfrwy
|
2600+
|
A.St.G.included
Two??
|
No.116.1947
Edition. 1 Ring Contour
|
Cadair
Idris
|
704 134
|
Cyfrwy
|
L
|
Gau
Craig
|
2200+
|
A.St.G
includes Two??
|
No.116.1947
Edition. 1 Ring Contour
|
Cadair
Idris
|
744 141
|
Gau
Graig
|
L
|
Not
in List
|
No.117.1963
Edition.0 Ring Contours
|
Aran
|
890 236
|
Esgeiriau
Gwynion
|
||
L
|
Not
in List
|
No.116.1947
Edition.0 Ring Contours
|
Aran
|
818 179
|
Pen
y Brynfforchog
|
||
L
|
Not
mentioned by A.St.G/
|
||||||
P
|
Craig
Cwm Dergwm N
|
2150
|
Included
by W.S.M.
|
No.141.1952
Edition. 1 Ring Contour
|
Brecon
Beacons
|
037 207
|
Fan
y Big
|
Table B
Tops that do not have the
required 50 foot rise on all sides but are included in Arthur St. George Walsh’s Welsh part of his late
1920’s, early 1930’s list.
Section
|
Name
(In
List)
|
Height
(in
List)
|
One
Inch Map Details
|
Mountain
Group
|
Grid
Reference
|
Name
|
I
|
Not
given
|
2731
|
No.116.1947
Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Arennig
|
829 373
|
Moel
Llechwedd
|
K
|
Pen
y Boncyn Trefilw W
|
Not
given
|
No.117.1963
Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Berwyn
|
952 281
|
Pen
y Cerrig Duon
|
K
|
Not
given
|
2239
|
No.117.
1963 Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Berwyn
|
084 307
|
Moel
Poethion
Superceded
by
|
L
|
(W
of Bwlch Fign)
|
2149
|
No.116.1947
Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Aran
|
816 183
|
Pen
y Brynfforchog
|
N
|
E.Ridge(Lge
Peat Plateau)
|
2010
|
No.141.1952
Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Black
Mountains
|
278 311
|
Pen
y Garn Fawr
|
P
|
Waen
Rhydd S
|
2502
|
No.141.1952
Edition. 1 Ring Contour
|
Brecon
Beacons
|
065 202
|
Waen
Rydd Sth Top
|
P
|
Duwynt
|
2704
|
No.141.1952
Edition. 2 Ring Contours
|
Brecon
Beacons
|
005 206
|
Duwynt
|
Table A would lead us to conclude that Walsh had overlooked nine prime
candidates for inclusion. This he did,
but on closer inspection all save one have a valid reason for being
overlooked. Carnedd Uchaf, Cyfrwy and
Gau Graig all possessed only one continuous uppermost contour ring on the old
one-inch map. Each of these three peaks
was listed with two question marks ?? following their name. This probably means that Walsh initially listed
these in his doubtful class but considered them as very strong candidates for
promotion to his definitely 50 foot class.
Throughout the list only six peaks are given two question marks ?? after
their name. The three remaining peaks
not listed in Table A are: Rhos, which Walsh calls Rhos W, Bryn Gwyn which he lists as WNW of Post Gwyn and lastly Corn Du. The first and second peaks are in the Berwyn
whilst Corn Du is in the Brecon Beacons.
The two Berwyn peaks have handwritten notes made by Walter Matthews saying
they are; ‘almost certainly not’ and ‘not a top’ respectively, whereas Corn Du
is treated the same as the three peaks in Table A; the question marks remain
unaltered and no adjoining notes are made.
This implies that upon inspection Walsh and Walter Matthews had accepted
these four peaks; Carnedd Uchaf, Cyfrwy, Gau Graig and Corn Du, into the main
part of the list, whilst Rhos and Bryn Gwyn remained outside of the definitely
50 foot class.
Two mountains within Table A
do not possess any ring contours on the one-inch map, both are in the
Aran. The first we will deal with is
Esgeiriau Gwynion. This mountain has
Foel Rhudd as a close neighbour, but overshadows this peak by a significant
twelve metres (39 feet). Walsh
tantalisingly lists Foel Rhudd as Foel
Rhudd NE, inferring he knew another peak existed to the South-west, but no
mention of it was made. The second peak
within Table A that possessed no contour rings is Pen y Brynfforchog, the maps
of the day gave a spot height of 2,149 feet, this Walsh lists as – (W. of Bwlch Fign). This point is now spot heighted as 656 m and
is over 0.5 kilometres from the true summit of Pen y Brynfforchog which is
another 29 m (95 feet) higher. Another
top of note but not listed in Table A is Cefn Gwyntog in the Berwyn. Again this mountain received no contour rings
on the one-inch map, the only point of reference being over one kilometer away
to the North, this Walsh lists quite rightfully with a question mark and calls E. of Py B.T., the name given by Walsh
refers to Pen y Boncyn Trefeilw which is a near top to the West.
Three of the nine mountains
in Table A are not mentioned at all by either Walsh or Walter Matthews –
Esgeiriau Gwynion and Pen y Brynfforchog being two, the third is the highest
point of the Berwyn. This peak was first
listed by John Rooke Corbett in 1929 and named Cader Berwyn, S.Top. Recent
local enquiries conducted by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams in the vicinity
to the west and east of this mountain suggest that the name of Craig Berwyn is
the favoured local name for this peak.
This particular peak was an obvious candidate for inclusion but probably
overlooked due to it only having one ring contour on the one-inch map, an
understandable oversight on Walsh’s part.
Another peak only assigned a
single ring contour on the one-inch map and missing from the list given to
Walter Matthews is Fan y Big, in the Brecon Beacons. Walsh’s initial oversight was soon rectified
by its later inclusion by Matthews who called this top Craig Cwm Oergwm N.
Now on to two peaks in the
southern Berwyn, the first of which is Foel Goch, this is listed by Walsh as Im. NNE of F.y.Geifr, this name refers
to Foel y Geifr which is to the South.
This is rather a contentious inclusion within Table A on my part as a
typed question mark follows the mountain’s name. The question mark then received a crossing
out by Walter Matthews, probably inferring that this top was included within
the initial definitely 50 foot class and the typing of the question mark a
mistake, rectified by Walter Matthews’s crossing out. As mentioned before (in the case of Y Garn on
the Nantlle Ridge) whilst analysing Walsh’s comparable numbers in his
definitely not 50 foot class, I have endeavoured to be consistent and therefore
have strictly adhered to the typed part of Walsh’s list.
Lastly we come to Foel Cwm
Sarn Llwyd which possessed six continuous uppermost contour rings on the
one-inch map but was not included within the typed part of the list, suggesting
it was missed by Walsh in the list’s initial compilation. If this was so it was a glaring oversight but
one which was soon rectified as it was later added by Walter Matthews under the
name E. of Nant y Sarn.
Table B is somewhat different as seven peaks are listed by Walsh that with
more detailed mapping we now know do not fulfill the specified criteria of
having 50 foot rise on all sides. Six
out of these were allocated two ring contours on the one-inch map and,
therefore, supposedly a minimum of 50 foot of re-ascent. The seventh peak we will deal with is listed
by Walsh as Waen Rhydd S, this is
towards the eastern end of the Brecon Beacons ridge and was only allotted one
small ring contour and a spot height of 2,502 ft on the one-inch map. This point only has an approximate 15 ft of
rise from its connecting col to the higher Waun Rydd, which Walsh calls Waen Rhydd N, of which the Ordnance
Survey gave a height of 2,504 ft on the one-inch map. It is quite incredulous that Waen Rhydd S has been included and
seemingly wasn’t demoted by either Walsh or Matthews.
With sixteen peaks listed in
the two Tables, Waen Rhydd S is the
only one from the Welsh part of his late 1920’s, early 1930’s list that lacks
an obvious explanation. All others, with
the provision of Walter Matthews’s later updates, have a valid reason for
either being excluded or included. One
out of 164 (155 in the typed list and nine from Table A) isn’t that bad as most
list compilers find at least one unexplainable oversight occurs in the
collation of any hill list.
It is probably correct to say
that Walsh’s list is the earliest comprehensive list to the 2,000 foot
mountains of England and Wales. The list
is little known and in its own right quite extraordinary as it is the first to
use 50 foot as the designated minimum re-ascent value, something that up until
the present day is regarded by many people as the accepted re-ascent value for
a mountain in Wales. Walsh was
revolutionary in his use of a thorough and systematic, although perhaps
subjective, approach to surveying hills on the ground. It is easily one of the most important Welsh
hill list’s that has ever been produced and yet the actual list has never been
published. Although the list survives,
it is somewhat perturbing to think that the great majority of Walsh’s detailed
workings are now lost, as what we have is a list that is literally decades
ahead of its time, as Walsh’s late 1920’s, early 1930’s list will not be
matched in its use of a simplified yet thoroughly checked-out criteria for
almost another sixty years. The thought
that the detailed workings to the list are now lost and the name of Arthur St.
George Walsh is almost forgotten, is lamentable. The man and the list deserve much more
recognition.
For Part 1 please click {here}
For Part 2 please click {here}
For Part 3 please click {here}
For Part 4 please click {here}
For Part 5 please click {here}
For Part 6 please click {here}
