Change
Register
The Hewitts
of Wales
In February 1997 TACit Tables published a booklet entitled The Hewitts and Marilyns of Wales, with
a sister booklet to The Hewitts and
Marilyns of England being published in June of the same year. These booklets are two in a series of many
that the list author; Alan Dawson, compiled and had published by TACit Tables
for P30 hills throughout Britain that are 2,000ft (609.6m) and above in height.
The Hewitts (an acronym for Hill in England, Wales or Ireland over Two Thousand feet high) are all hills in
these countries at or above 2,000ft (609.6m) in height that have a minimum drop
of 30m, accompanying the main list are two sub category’s entitled SubHewitts, with the two sets
of criteria being any hill at or above 600m and below 2000ft (609.6m) in height
that has a minimum drop of 30m and any hill at or above 2000ft (609.6m) in
height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.
The listing
originated as the Sweats (an acronym for Summits
in Wales and England Above Two-thousand FEET) and appeared as The
Absolute Summits of England and Wales in The
Relative Hills of Britain book published by Cicerone Press in 1992, its
author; Alan Dawson then separated the component parts and renamed them the
Hewitts and published each in the TACit Tables booklets as detailed above.
For those people who have completed an ascent of each listed
hill they would have visited all summits in Wales at or above 2,000ft (609.6m)
in height that have a minimum prominence of 30m. These hills are spread throughout Wales taking
in the variety of Snowdonia’s higher summits to the remote and bleak central
hills to the old red sandstone giants of the south. Each and every hill can leave memories that
refresh the soul and body, and for many it is the TACit Table booklet that has taken
them on a journey through some of the most beautiful landscape that Britain has
to offer.
When the booklet was first published Wales was listed with 137
hills. Since these early days the influx
of independent surveyors, the availability of LIDAR and the diligence of map study have reclassified a number
of hills to Hewitt status. But what
hills have now entered this list and who was responsible for their inclusion?
It seems fitting to list these reclassified Welsh Hewitts as
there have been three alterations to this list within a 16 month period between
July 2017 and November 2018 with two hills being deleted and one promoted to
the list, with their overall total now being 136, a decrease of one since they
were listed in 1997. These
reclassifications are just the latest in a line that stretches back to August
2008 when the first of many surveys that reclassified a hill to Welsh Hewitt status was
conducted, and it seems appropriate to list these with their respective
details, now that there are three hills that have recently changed
classification. However, there have also
been one promotion and another deletion over the years, and these are also
listed with their respective details.
The Change Register to The Hewitts of Wales appears below in
receding order under the hill name used by Alan Dawson:
Change
Register
The Hewitts
of Wales
Foel Penolau 614.4m at SH 66187 34835 and SH 66148 34777
Foel Penolau in the northern Rhinogydd |
This hill was surveyed on the 17th November 2018 by
Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams using a Trimble GeoXH 6000 to determine the summit and bwlch
height and its drop value, with a more detailed bwlch survey conducted by
Myrddyn Phillips taking place on the 26th November 2018. Prior to this survey the hill
was listed as a SubHewitt with 26m of drop based on the 614m summit spot height that appears on
the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, with also a
614m twin top appearing on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the
Geograph website which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, and the 588m
spot height that was considered to be positioned at the bwlch and appears on
the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website. The survey resulted in a 614.4m summit and 582.5m
bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 31.9m of drop. The reclassification of Foel Penolau to Hewitt
status was accepted by Alan Dawson and augmented in to the Hewitts list in November
2018, with
a retrospective Hill Reclassifications post being published on Mapping
Mountains. Welsh Hewitt total increases by
one and confirmed as 136.
Fan y
Big 716.7m at SO 03654 20669
Fan y Big in the Bannau Brycheiniog range in south Wales |
Prior to this hill’s survey it was listed as a Hewitt with 30m
of drop, based on the 719m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000
Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 689m bwlch spot height that
appears on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website
and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map. The details for this hill were analysed via
LIDAR by Aled Williams, resulting in a 716.3m summit height and a 688.1m bwlch
height, with these values giving this hill 28.2m of drop. The hill was then surveyed on the 30th
June 2018 with a repeat summit survey taking place on the 21st
August 2018 by Myrddyn Phillips using a Trimble GeoXH 6000 to determine the
summit and bwlch height and the drop value, resulting in a 716.7m (average of
three surveys) summit and 688.2m bwlch height, with these values giving this
hill 28.5m of drop. The reclassification
of Fan y Big from Hewitt status was accepted by Alan Dawson and augmented in to
the Hewitts list in July 2018, with a retrospective Hill Reclassifications
post being published on Mapping Mountains. Welsh
Hewitt total decreases by one and confirmed as 135.
Bera
Mawr 793.7m at SH 67485 68274
Bera Mawr in the Carneddau range |
This hill was surveyed on the 10th March 2014 by Myrddyn
Phillips using a Trimble
GeoXH 6000 to determine the summit and bwlch height and its drop value,
resulting in a 793.6m summit and 763.9m bwlch height, with these values giving
this hill 29.7m of drop, these details were then forwarded to the list author. Prior to this survey the hill
was listed as a Hewitt with an estimated c 30m of drop, based on the 794m summit spot height that
appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and
an estimated bwlch height of c 764m. The
details for this hill were then analysed via LIDAR by Aled Williams, resulting
in a 792.98m summit height and a 764.04m bwlch height, with these values giving
this hill 28.94m of drop. The hill was
subsequently surveyed by Alan Dawson using a Leica RX1250 on the 14th
June 2017, resulting in a 793.7m summit height and a prioritised bwlch height
and position taken from the data previously produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000
survey and LIDAR analysis, and its reclassification from Hewitt status was
augmented in to the Hewitts list in July 2017, with a retrospective
Hill Reclassifications post being published on Mapping Mountains. Welsh Hewitt total decreases by
one and confirmed as 136.
Gau
Graig 683.8m at SH 74377 14027
Gau Graig in the Cadair Idris range of hills |
This hill was surveyed on the 1st May 2015 by John
Barnard and Myrddyn Phillips using a level and staff to determine the drop of the hill and a Trimble
GeoXH 6000 to determine the summit and bwlch height and also its drop value. Prior to this survey the hill
was listed as a Hewitt with an estimated c 30m of drop, based on the 683m summit spot height that
appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and
an estimated bwlch height of c 653m. The
survey resulted in a 683.8m summit height and a 658.4m bwlch height, with these
values giving this hill 25.4m of drop, with the line survey resulting in a drop
value of 25.47m. The reclassification of
Gau Graig from Hewitt status was accepted by Alan Dawson and augmented in to
the Hewitts list in May 2015, with a retrospective Hill Reclassifications
post being published on Mapping Mountains. Welsh
Hewitt total decreases by one and confirmed as 137.
Mynydd
Graig Goch 609.8m at SH 49732 48518
Mynydd Graig Goch is positioned at the south-western end of Crib Nantlle adjoined to the Moel Hebog group of hills |
The confirmation of this hill’s reclassification to Hewitt
status took place on the 19th September 2008 at a press conference
held in the Oakeley Room at Plas Tan-y-bwlch, Maentwrog in Snowdonia. The survey that resulted in this hill’s
reclassification was conducted in conjunction with Leica Geosystems, Clwb
Mynydda Cymru and the Snowdonia National Park Authority, with Leica Geosystems’
representative; James Whitworth being the surveyor who operated the Leica 1200. Present on the survey were John Barnard,
Graham Jackson, Myrddyn Phillips, Dewi Jones, Harold Morris, Anne Nuttall, John
Nuttall and James Whitworth. This was
the third occasion that Differential GPS equipment had been used outside of the
Ordnance Survey to determine the accurate height of a hill, with The Munro
Society pioneering its use having commissioned CMCR Ltd to survey two hills in
Scotland for Munro status. The resulting
reclassification of Mynydd Graig Goch made headlines on national television,
radio and in national newspapers, with a retrospective Hill Reclassifications
post being published on Mapping Mountains.
Welsh Hewitt total increases by one and confirmed as 138.
1997
(February) – TACit Tables publishes The Hewitts
and Marilyns of Wales.
Welsh Hewitt total confirmed as 137.
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