Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

 

The Beet (SK 122 819) 

There has been a Significant Name Change that is retrospective 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 The Beet (SK 122 819)

The criteria for the list that this name change 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, these are the 400m Sub-Fours, the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours.  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 hill is adjoined to the Kinder Scout group of hills, which are situated in the Peak District, and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-west, the A623 road to its south-west and the B6049 road to its east, and has the town of Chapel-en-le-Frith towards the west.

When the listing that is now known as The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was originally compiled this hill appeared under the transposed and invented name of Slitherstone Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Authors name from mine to the south. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to either invent a name for a hill, or use a name that appeared near to the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  And for this hill its listed name was transposed from a disused quarry with the word Hill added to it.  This is not a practice that is now advocated as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

Since the original publication of this list there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  One of the historic maps now available online is the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is this map that formed the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill.

The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map was the first map that Ordnance Survey produced, and their publication culminated from the whole of Britain being surveyed between 1791 and 1874 and the detail gathered therein produced at a scale of one inch to the mile and published in sheet format between 1805 and 1874.  The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ maps for the whole of Wales are now available online; they are also available in map format as enlarged and re-projected versions to match the scale and dimensions of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series and are published by Cassini.  This series of maps form another important part in the study of upland place-names and bridge the timeframe leading up to the production of the Ordnance Survey base map of the Six-Inch series, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that places the name of The Beet across the summit area of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map

Consequently, this hill appeared under this name when the 1^st edition of The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013 and the 2^nd edition of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is The Beet and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Kinder Scout

Name:  The Beet

Previously Listed Name:  Slitherstone Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  110

Summit Height:  477.5m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SK 12243 81956 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  409.5m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 12591 83100 (LIDAR)

Drop:  68.0m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2023)

Mapping Mountains - Hill Reclassifications - Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales

 

Y Pedwarau – Hill Reclassifications

Y Pedwarau are the Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have a minimum drop of 30m.  Accompanying the main P30 list are five sub lists; these are the 500m Sub-Pedwar, 500m Double Sub-Pedwar, 400m Sub-Pedwar, 390m Sub-Pedwar and 390m Double Sub-Pedwar category’s, with their criteria detailed in the respective Change Registers that have been created and which are linked in their above titles, with the Introduction to this list being linked in the above title.

The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and the posts that have appeared on Mapping Mountains detailing the additions, reclassifications and deletions to the main P30 list and the sub lists appear below presented chronologically in receding order.

Mapping Mountains - Hill Reclassifications - Y Pedwarau

Esgair Saeson (SN 795 603) – 400m Sub-Pedwar addition (107th reclassification)

There has been an addition to the listing of the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams. 

LIDAR image of Esgair Saeson (SN 795 603)

The criteria for the list that this addition applies to are:

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being included in the 400m Sub-Pedwar category.  The criteria for this sub category being all Welsh 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 is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The name the hill is listed by is Esgair Saeson and it is adjoined to the Esgair Wen group of hills, which are situated in the central part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-west and south, and has the small community of Pontrhydfendigaid towards the north-west and the town of Tregaron towards the west.

When the original 400m height band of Welsh P30 hills was published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as with a 500m summit spot height that appears on the contemporary Ordnance survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, its height was above the criterion used for this list.

With a summit spot height of 500m this hill was subsequently listed in the 500m Twmpau, and included in the accompanying sub list with an estimated c 24m of drop, based on the 500m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 476m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 470m – 480m. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

Since the original compilation of this list there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.

The details for this hill were re-assessed when the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map became available online.  This mapping had many spot heights not on other publicly available Ordnance Survey maps and for this hill it had a 475m bwlch spot height positioned at SN 79101 60658, and when coupled with its 500m summit spot height these values gave this hill 25m of drop.

One of the resources recently available online is the mapping on the OS Maps website and the details for this hill were subsequently re-assessed against this mapping.  This is the replacement for OS Get-a-map and until recent times had contours at 5m intervals which were proving consistently more accurate compared to the 5m contours that sometimes appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and used to appear on the online Vector Map Local.  This mapping had bwlch contouring between 470m – 475m, with interpolation placing the height of the bwlch as an estimated c 473m, resulting in its drop value being amended to an estimated c 27m.

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 inclusion of this hill as a 400m Sub-Pedwar is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 498.4m summit height and a 473.8m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 24.6m of drop, with its height sufficient for it to be classified as a 400m Sub-Pedwar.

                                     

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Esgair Wen

Name:  Esgair Saeson

OS 1:50,000 map:  146, 147

Summit Height:  498.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 79504 60391 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  473.8m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 79174 60567 (LIDAR)   

Drop:  24.6m (LIDAR) 

 

For the additions, reclassifications and deletions to Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales reported on Mapping Mountains since the May 2013 publication of the list by Europeaklist please consult the following Change Registers:

 

Y Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 400m Sub-Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 390m Sub-Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 390m Double Sub-Pedwarau

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (November 2023)

Mapping Mountains - Hill Reclassifications - Y Pedwarau

Pen y Bwlch Coch (SH 751 159) – 390m Double Sub-Pedwar reclassified to 390m Sub-Pedwar (106th reclassification)

There has been a reclassification to the listing of the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail produced by Joe Nuttall in his surface analysis progamme, with subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by the DoBIH team and independently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Pen y Bwlch Coch (SH 751 159)

The criteria for the list that this reclassification applies to are:

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main Y Pedwarau list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being reclassified from the 390m Double Sub-Pedwar category to the 390m Sub-Pedwar category.  The criteria for the former being all Welsh hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop, with the criteria for the latter being all Welsh hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The name the hill is listed by is Pen y Bwlch Coch, and it is adjoined to the Cadair Idris group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A470 road to its north and the A487 road to its east, and has the town of Dolgellau towards the north-west.

When the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for the main P30 category. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

After the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-evaluated and it was listed with 26m of drop, based on the 395m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map and the 369m bwlch spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, however it was noted that the latter spot height was not centralised where interpolation would place the critical point of the bwlch, and these were the values this hill was listed by when the 1^st edition of the Y Pedwarau was published by Europeaklist in May 2013. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map

One of the resources recently available online is the mapping on the OS Maps website and the details for this hill were subsequently re-assessed against this mapping.  This is the replacement for OS Get-a-map and until recent times had contours at 5m intervals which were proving consistently more accurate compared to the 5m contours that sometimes appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and used to appear on the online Vector Map Local.  This mapping had bwlch contouring between 365m – 370m, with interpolation placing the height of the bwlch as an estimated c 366m, and when coupled with the 395m summit spot height these values gave this hill an estimated c 29m of drop.

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 reclassification of this hill from 390m Double Sub-Pedwar status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 395.1m summit height and a 364.9m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 30.2m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified as a 390m Sub-Pedwar. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cadair Idris 

Name:  Pen y Bwlch Coch 

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Height:  395.1m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 75190 15937 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  364.9m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 75107 15780 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  30.2m (LIDAR) 

 

For the additions, reclassifications and deletions to Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales reported on Mapping Mountains since the May 2013 publication of the list by Europeaklist please consult the following Change Registers:

 

Y Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 400m Sub-Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 390m Sub-Pedwarau

 

Y Pedwarau – 390m Double Sub-Pedwarau

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2023)

Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – 200m Twmpau

Blaen Pibydd (SN 286 337 and SN 286 336) 

There has been a Summit Relocation to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail produced by JoeNuttall in his surface analysis programme, with subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by the DoBIH team and independently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Blaen Pibydd (SN 286 337 and SN 286 336)

The criteria for the list that this summit relocation applies to are:

200m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 200m Sub-Twmpau, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward. 

The 200m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The name the hill is now listed by is Blaen Pibydd and this was derived from the Tithe map, and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Pencarreg group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the B4299 road farther to its south-east, and has the town of Castellnewydd Emlyn (Newcastle Emlyn) towards the north north-east.

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was listed with a summit height of 224m, based on the spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map which is positioned at SN 28673 33662. 

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 analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 224.4m positioned at SN 28648 33672.  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. 

LIDAR summit image of Blaen Pibydd (SN 286 337 and SN 286 336)

The height produced by LIDAR analysis to the natural summit of this hill is 223.9m positioned at SN 28692 33707 and SN 28695 33701 and SN 28696 33697 and SN 28694 33695, 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 when the high point of the hill is found to be positioned; in a different field, to a different feature such as in a conifer plantation,  within a different map contour, to a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit of a hill 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 223.9m and this is to the natural summit of the hill which is positioned at SN 28692 33707 and SN 28695 33701 and SN 28696 33697 and SN 28694 33695, although relatively close to where the 224m spot height is positioned, none of these positions are given a spot height on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, and they are approximately 45 metres north-eastward from where the high point of the raised field boundary is positioned. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg 

Name:  Blaen Pibydd 

OS 1:50,000 map:  145

Summit Height:  223.9m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SN 28692 33707 & SN 28695 33701 & SN 28696 33697 & SN 28694 33695 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  195.0m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 28588 33103 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  28.8m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2023)