Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours - The 400m Hills of England

Pt. 428.7m (NY 300 017)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in 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 subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Pt. 428.7m (NY 300 017)

The criteria for the list that this name change 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 subsequently deleted from 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 hill is adjoined to the The Old Man of Coniston group of hills, which are situated in the Lake District, and it is positioned with a minor road to its north and the A593 road to its east, and has the village of Coniston towards the south.

When this list was originally compiled this hill was not included in the accompanying sub list as it did not meet the criteria then used for this sub category.  When the sub list was standardised and interpolated heights and drop values also included, the details for this hill were reassessed and it appeared as a 400m Sub-Four under the name of High Fell when the 1st edition of the The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013. 

Prior to publication of the 2^nd edition of the The Fours - The 400m Hills of England enquiries were made with two well-known Lake District guide book authors, resulting in a non-committal reply in regard to the name of High Fell, and the advice that ‘one would need to talk to genuine locals and shepherds to give definitive answers’.  Therefore, this hill was listed using the point (Pt. 428m) notation.   

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

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

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the numerical 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. 

Subsequent LIDAR analysis gives the drop of this hill as 19.4m which is insufficient to be included as a 400m Sub-Four.  However, this post is retained as a record of the change in the listed name of this hill.

Therefore, the name this hill was listed by in the The Fours- The 400m Hills of England was Pt. 428m (subsequently Pt. 428.7m after LIDAR analysis), and this follows the standard practice of using the point notation when the name of a hill has not been substantiated by the authors either through local enquiry, contemporary maps or from historical documentation. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  The Old Man of Coniston

Name:  Pt. 428.7m

Previously Listed Name:  High Fell 

OS 1:50,000 map:  90

Summit Height:  428.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  NY 30015 01705 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  409.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 29954 01653 (LIDAR)

Drop:  19.4m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (June 2018)