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

Countess Cliff (SK 053 710) – 390m Double Sub-Four deletion

There has been a deletion 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 by Joe Nuttall who produced a summit analysis programme using LIDAR, and then by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Countess Cliff (SK 053 710)

The criteria for the list that this deletion 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 listing of The Fours are three categories of sub hills, with this hill being deleted from the 390m Double Sub-Four category, the criteria for which are all English hills at or above 390m and below 400m 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 Countess Cliff, and it is adjoined to the Axe Edge group of hills, which are situated in The Southern Pennines (Region 36), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north and the A53 road to its west, and has the town of Buxton towards the north.

When the 2^nd edition of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018, this hill was included as a 390m Double Sub-Four and listed with an estimated c 22m of drop, based on the 390m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and an estimated c 368m col height based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 365m – 370m. 

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 deletion of this hill from 390m Double Sub-Four status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 388.7m summit height and a 368.05m col height, with these values giving this hill 20.65m of drop, which is insufficient for it to be classified as a 390m Double Sub-Four.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Axe Edge

Name:  Countess Cliff

OS 1:50,000 map:  119

Summit Height:  388.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SK 05360 71003 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  368.05m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 05018 71067 (LIDAR)

Drop:  20.65m (LIDAR)

 

Our thanks to Ronnie Bowron for bringing the details of this hill to our attention.

For the additions, deletions and reclassifications to The Fours – The 400m Hills of England reported on Mapping Mountains since the December 2013 publication of the 1^st edition of this 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 (September 2022)