Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – The Fours - The 400m Hills of England

Black Hill (SD 865 662) – Four reclassified to 400m Sub-Four

There has been a reclassification to the listing of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England, with the summit height, col height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis initially conducted by Aled Williams and subsequently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Black Hill (SD 865 662)

The criteria for the list that this reclassification applies to are:

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England.  English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are three categories of sub hills, with this hill being reclassified to the 400m Sub-Four category, the criteria for which are all English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and the 2^nd edition of the booklet containing this list was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24^th April 2018.

The Fours - The 400m Hills of England by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The name the hill is listed by is Black Hill and it is adjoined to the Pen  Ghent group of hills, which are situated in the central Pennines, and it is positioned with Malham Tarn to its east and has the small town of Settle towards its west south-west.

When the 1^st edition of the The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013, this hill was included as a Four and listed with an estimated c 30m of drop, based on the 468m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 438m col height, based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 430m - 440m.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales.

Therefore, the reclassification of this hill to 400m Sub-Four status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 468.2m summit height and a 440.0m col height, with these values giving this hill 28.2m of drop, which is insufficient for it to be classified as a Four.  

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Pen y Ghent

Name:  Black Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  98

Summit Height:  468.2m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SD 86565 66233 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  440.0m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SD 86841 66040 (LIDAR)

Drop:  28.2m (LIDAR)

For the additions, deletions and reclassifications to The Fours reported on Mapping Mountains since the December 2013 publication of the list by Europeaklist please consult the following Change Registers:

The Fours

The Fours – 400m Sub-Four

The Fours – 390m Sub-Four

The Fours – 390m Double Sub-Four

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (May 2018)