Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

Booth Top (SK 054 680) 

There has been a Summit Relocation to a hill that is listed in 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 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Booth Top (SK 054 680)

The criteria for the list that this summit relocation 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 listed in 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 Booth Top and this was derived by local enquiry, and it is adjoined to the Axe Edge group of hills, which are situated in the Peak District and placed in Region 36, The Southern Pennines.  The hill is positioned with the A53 road to its west and the B5053 road to its east and has the town of Buxton to 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 listed with a summit height of 407m based on the spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map which was positioned at SK 054 680. 

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. 

LIDAR summit image of Booth Top (SK 054 680)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 407.8m positioned at SK 05478 68102.  However, this is a part of a raised field boundary and protocols dictate that as this is deemed a relatively recent man-made construct such ground is discounted from the height of a hill. 

The raised field boundary atop Booth Top with the natural summit of the hill to the right

The height produced by LIDAR analysis to the natural summit of this hill is 407.6m positioned at SK 05481 68091, and this position in relation to the raised field boundary comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies to when the high point is positioned in a different field, to a different feature such as a conifer plantation, within a different map contour, a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary or covered reservoir that is considered a relatively recent man-made construct, or a relocation of approximately 100 metres or more in distance from either the position of a map spot height or from where the summit of the hill was previously thought to exist.

Therefore, the summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 407.6m and this is to the natural summit of the hill which is positioned at SK 05481 68091.  This position is not given a spot height on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, and is approximately 10 metres southward from where the high point of the raised field boundary is positioned. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Axe Edge

Name:  Booth Top

OS 1:50,000 map:  119

Summit Height:  407.6m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SK 05481 68091 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  379.1m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 05720 68021 (LIDAR)

Drop:  28.6m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (October 2022)