Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales – Introduction

Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales – Introduction to Master List on Mapping Mountains

Drygarn Fawr in the Elenydd - just one of the Remotest Hills of Wales

The Pellennig list to the remotest hills in all of Wales, and its counterpart to the mainland hills of Wales are a unique concept in hill listing, as no other list has attempted to catalogue hills by their remoteness.

There are 168 hills in the All Wales list and 124 hills in the Mainland Wales list with the criteria for qualification being; summits in Wales 2.5km or more from the nearest paved public road with a minimum of 15m of prominence.

The list is published by Mapping Mountains Publications as an e-version and a print-version booklet.

The list is also published by Haroldstreet for GPS Waypoints and as a tick list.

The list also appears on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website.

The Master List for the All Wales list and the Mainland Wales list is available on and will be updated via the Mapping Mountains site.

Details for the list from concept to publication are on the Mapping Mountains site.

The list consists of the following:

Rank:  This is the rank, or order of the hill listed chronologically by their remoteness.

Name:  This is considered the most appropriate name of the hill.  Sometimes the name used does not correspond to current Ordnance Survey map spelling or the name may not appear on any map.  Where no appropriate name has been discovered for the hill from any source, the Pt. (for example Pt. 549m [Rank number 26]) notation is used rather than making up a name that has no local or historical evidence of use.

Remoteness (km):  This is the distance in kilometres from the summit of the hill to the nearest paved public road in a straight line.  Please refer to the ‘From Concept to Publication’ for details relating to the other distance concepts considered for this list.

Summit Grid Reference:  This is the six figure grid reference for the summit of the hill.  This has either been produced by an accurate survey, a map spot height or when neither is available by a centralised position in an uppermost contour ring.

1:50,000 Map:  This column gives the number or numbers of the 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey Landranger map that the summit of the hill appears on.

1:25,000 Map:  This column gives the number or numbers of the 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey Explorer map that the summit of the hill appears on.

Summit Height (m):  This gives the map height in metres of the hill above Ordnance Datum Newlyn (ODN), often referred to as sea level.  Where a height is quoted to a decimal place it implies that the hill has been surveyed by GPS / GNSS receiver (these heights may not match current Ordnance Survey map heights).  Where a ‘c’ (circa) appears preceding the height it means there is no known spot height available and the height has been estimated from contour interpolation.

Drop (m):  This column details the relative height of the hill; this is commonly referred to as ‘drop’, ‘prominence’ or ‘reascent’.  The drop is the height difference between the summit and bwlch connecting the hill to next higher ground along the watershed.  The letter ‘c’ before the drop figure signifies there is no spot height or surveyed height known for either summit or more usually, the bwlch, therefore a part of the drop figure has been estimated from contour interpolation.

Section:  These are the section numbers used by Alan Dawson in his TACit publication to ‘The Hewitts and Marilyns of Wales’.  The section numbers used by Alan for his Welsh listings range from 30A – 32C and are part of a numbering system that also includes Scotland and England.

Cardinal Hill:  This is the ‘parent hill’ to the hill that is listed.  These ‘Cardinal Hills’ are the highest or the most prominent hill in the respective area.

Grid Reference (Nearest Paved Public Road):  This column gives the ten figure grid reference to the nearest paved public road and is where the distance for the remoteness value has been taken from. 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  This is the six figure grid reference for the bwlch of the hill.  This has either been produced by an accurate survey, a map spot height or when neither is available by a centralised position between converging hill to hill and valley to valley contours.

Bwlch Height (m):  This gives the map height in metres of the bwlch above Ordnance Datum Newlyn (ODN), often referred to as sea level.  Where a height is quoted to a decimal place it implies that the bwlch has been surveyed by GPS / GNSS receiver (these heights may not match current Ordnance Survey map heights).  Where a ‘c’ (circa) appears preceding the height it means there is no known spot height available and the height has been estimated from contour interpolation.

Notes:  This column gives details relevant to the hill.

Reason for Addition / Deletion / Relocation:  These columns detail the reason why there has been a change in status of the hill or relocation in its summit position.

The list is available as an ‘All Wales’, ‘Mainland Wales’ and ‘Remote Island’ list.  If wanting direct links to the individual listings please click {here}.