The History of Welsh Hill Lists – Part 12
The Early Years
1950-1962
1954 – William McKnight
Docharty
The evolutionary process of
the Welsh hill list was now gaining momentum.
Slowly each author added an extra element, be it a new hill, lowering of
the height criterion or perhaps widening one’s scope from listing the hills in Snowdonia
to the hills in the whole of Wales. Our
next author widened his scope beyond just Wales and decided upon the whole of
Britain and Ireland. The author’s name
is William McKnight Docharty.
On the 31st May
1948 William McKnight Docharty reached the top of Aonach Beag above Glen Nevis,
in the process becoming only the thirteenth known Munroist. Continuing south-east he then visited Stob
Coire Bhealaich and claimed the last of Munro’s subsidiary tops, only the
eighth person to do so. During a visit
to Wester Ross and Sutherland the previous autumn, and with his completion of
the Munros and Tops looming for the following spring, Docharty was faced with a
dilemma. Should he continue visiting the
Munros and Tops and use these as his principal objective, or should he turn his
sights to new ground and visit hills of a lesser height.
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| William McKnight Docharty: Photo published courtesy of SMC Image Archive |
Following his Munro
completion he traversed the main ridge of Rhum on the 1st June and
the next day visited Knoydart with Sgurr na Ciche and Ben Aden his
objectives. These two latter excursions
were to make a lasting and profound impression upon him as to the latent
possibilities of excursions to hills of a lesser height than 3,000 feet. During the autumn of the same year he visited
the 3,000 foot mountains of Ireland, Wales and England. By May of 1949 his decision had been made,
the second of the alternatives had been chosen and the idea of his lists
conceived. His first list, to Scotland,
was finished during the winter of 1950-1951; his lists to England, Ireland and
Wales followed over the next twelve months.
During Docharty’s autumn 1948 visit to Wales, the country in the British Isles of which he had least experience; he was beset with bad weather. Perhaps it was because of the turmoil of rain, high wind and driving mist that haunted him on his three days on the loftier Welsh ridges that no panoramic photographs of the Welsh hills are included in his book. Nevertheless, Docharty did have the opportunity to pass comment on “Tryfan, perhaps the most graceful of all mountains throughout these islands.” He goes on to say “I look forward to the day when I may see all the mountains of Snowdonia, but especially Tryfan, standing free and untrammeled below high skies.” Docharty again visited Wales in October 1953, Cnicht, Arennig Fawr and the Brecon Beacons were all explored. He enthuses about the views, especially so from the ridge of Arennig Fawr “I treasure in mind my exquisite early morning vignette of Snowdon, over seventeen miles distant, rising beyond some light diagonally cast cloud, the clear fresh silhouette being the only visible feature on the horizon, the remainder of which was dark, obscure, and ominous.” Clearly William McKnight Docharty was a great lover of the hills. His three privately published volumes; the first entitled ‘A Selection of some 900 British and Irish Mountain Tops’ is a testament to that love.
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| Front cover to the 1954 book produced by William McKnight Docharty and which was privately published |
Five
hundred copies of this book were printed at the Darien Press Ltd, Edinburgh and
privately published in December 1954.
The book comprises 124 pages, ending with nine magnificent black and
white fold-out panoramic photographs ranging in length from 16 ¾ inches
to 27 inches. It is enclosed in a light
coloured dust jacket with the title embossed in gold on a green hard-backed
cover. Each book’s allotted number is
stamped on the inside back cover, many if not all are assigned to various
organizations, for instance, book No. 151 is assigned to ‘The Royal Scottish
Geographical Society (Glasgow Centre) with the compliments of W M Docharty.’ Following a one page dedication is a seven
page autobiographical forward. Two pages
of contents lead on to page eighteen’s ‘Grand Summary of Mountain Tops Listed
Herein.’ Docharty lays out his criterion
on the following two pages. After an
explanatory page the lists proper start on page twenty two.
The Welsh
lists are represented between pages 80 – 87.
The lists comprise ‘List A’ and ‘List B’. They are thorough and complicated. List A concentrates on the Carnedds, Glyders and Snowdon
ranges whilst List B concentrates on mountain ranges between the heights of
2,500 feet and 3,000 feet. The hills in
both lists are divided into ‘Independent Mountains’ and their ‘Tops’, List A
includes some additional heights marked on the maps which, when Docharty
visited, did not appear to have sufficient individuality to qualify as tops,
List B includes some other Tops of interest under 2,500 feet and some
Independent Mountains of interest under 2,500 feet. Docharty’s criterion for an Independent Mountain
is that it had to have a minimum of 500 feet of ascent on all sides at or above
the designated height. This though was
relaxed in List A when he states “The 3,000 feet Mountains are listed as such
by virtue of their commanding position on their ridges and are not necessarily
bound by the 500-foot rule”. This
criterion though was strictly applied to Independent Mountain status in List
B. The criterion for a Top is an eminence
marked with one 50 foot contour on the one-inch Ordnance Survey Map at or above
the designated height.
‘List A’
is to the 3,000 feet mountain groups; The Carnedds,
Glyders and Snowdon. Listed are nine
Independent Mountains of 3,000 feet and over, five Tops of 3,000 feet and over,
twelve Tops of 2,500 feet and under 3,000 feet. Also listed are two points of 3,000 feet and
over and two points of 2,500 feet and under 3,000 feet that are additional
heights marked on the maps.
‘List B’
is to the 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet mountain groups. These are; The Carnedds, Snowdon, Moel Siabod, Moel Hebog, Merioneth,
Rhinogs and Llawllech, Cader Idris, Berwyn, Fforest Fawr and Black
Mountains. Listed are fourteen
Independent Mountains of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet, nineteen Tops
of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet, four Tops of mountains under 2,500
feet and lastly seven Independent Mountains under 2,500 feet.
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| The Lists of Welsh Mountains and Tops used a detailed but complex classification |
The
outcome of this is a detailed but complex classification of mountains which
result in a strange mix of Corbett’s Scottish mountain criterion, Munro’s
mountains and Tops and Moss’s 50 feet contour ring definition.
For the purposes of this
article we have to concentrate on the Welsh content; Docharty attempts a new
Welsh re-ascent value of 500 foot for his Independent Mountain status and lists
70 mountains and their tops, of which all had appeared in previous hill lists.
In all, he lists 933
Mountains and their Tops. Nobody had
ever attempted such a momentous classification of the British and Irish
mountains. This was just a start. It would be another eight years before
Docharty’s next publication. In the
meantime William McKnight Docharty set out with the intention to update his
1954 publication and this time set his sights on a detailed compilation of
mountains in Britain and Ireland between 2,000 feet – 2,499 feet in
height. Nothing like this had ever been
attempted before. Until we get to grips
with Docharty’s next book we have an update and two new publications to deal
with.
Next instalment due on
the 30th January 2016
For the Preface please
click {here}
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}
For Part 7 please click
{here}
For Part 8 please click
{here}
For Part 9 please click
{here}
For Part 10 please click
{here}
For Part 11 please click
{here}
