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

Birkett Hill (NY 801 076) 

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 Birkett Hill (NY 801 076)

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 Birkett Hill, and it is adjoined to the Great Shunner Fell group of hills, which are situated in the northern Penninnes, and it is positioned with a minor road to its west, and the B6259 road and the A685 road farther to its west, and has the town of Kirkby Stephen towards the west 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 33m of drop, based on the 405m summit spot height positioned at NY 80109 07719 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 372m col spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage 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 Birkett Hill (NY 801 076)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 403.333m positioned at NY 80139 07676, as opposed to 403.283m positioned at NY 80116 07731 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 403.3m and this is positioned at NY 80139 07676.  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 55 metres south south-eastward from where the previously listed summit is positioned and is in a different enclosed field.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Great Shunner Fell

Name:  Birkett Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  91, 92

Summit Height:  403.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  NY 80139 07676 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  371.2m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 80115 07491 (LIDAR)

Drop:  32.1m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (April 2023)