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

 

Watson’s Pike (NY 893 526) 

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 Watson's Pike (NY 893 526)

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 list are three categories of sub hills; the 400m Sub-Four category, the 390m Sub-Four category and the 390m Double Sub-Four category.  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 Watson’s Pike, and it is adjoined to the Burnhope Seat group of hills, which are situated in the northern Penninnes, and it is positioned with the B6295 road to its west and the B6306 road to its east, and has the village of Allendale towards the north-west.

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 64m of drop, based on the 447m summit spot height adjoined to a triangulation pillar positioned at NY 89151 52787 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 383m col spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

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 Watson's Pike (NY 893 526)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 447.6m positioned at NY 89303 52615, as opposed to 447.4m positioned at NY 89146 52786 and this 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 447.6m and this is positioned at NY 89303 52615.  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 175 metres south-eastward from where the previously listed summit is positioned.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Burnhope Seat

Name:  Watson’s Pike

OS 1:50,000 map:  87

Summit Height:  447.6m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  NY 89303 52615 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  381.6m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 88511 51931 (LIDAR)

Drop:  66.0m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (March 2023)