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

Wood Barrow (SS 716 425) 

There has been a Significant Name Change 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 Wood Barrow (SS 716 425)

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, with this hill being included 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 hill is adjoined to the Dunkery Beacon group of hills, which are situated in the counties of Somerset and Devon, and it is positioned with the A39 road to its north-west and the B3358 road to its south, and has the small community of Parracombe towards the west north-west.

When the 1^st edition of the The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013, the qualifying 400m Sub-Four hill was listed as Wood Barrow (SS 716 425) with 22m of drop, based on the 480m summit spot height that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 458m col spot height that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, with an accompanying note stating:

Although Chapman Barrows at SS 700 434 has a 480m map height, it is not listed as a twin Sub-Four as its 480.093m flush bracket height means ground at the base of the trig pillar will be below 480m. 

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.

The height produced by initial LIDAR analysis to the high point of Chapman Barrows is 479.8m positioned at SS 70003 43472 and to the high point of Wood Barrow is 479.7m positioned at SS 71627 42506, resulting in the summit of the qualifying 400m Sub-Four being relocated from Wood Barrow to Chapman Barrows.

However, the latest available LIDAR analysis gives the high point of Chapman Barrows as 479.8m positioned at SS 70003 43471 and the high point of Wood Barrow as 480.0m positioned at SS 71627 42505, resulting in the summit of the qualifying 400m Sub-Four being relocated back from Chapman Barrows to Wood Barrow.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Wood Barrow and this was instigated from a summit relocation. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Dunkery Beacon

Name:  Wood Barrow

Previously Listed Name:  Chapman Barrows 

OS 1:50,000 map:  180

Summit Height:  480.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 71627 42505 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  457.7m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SS 72621 42582 (LIDAR)

Drop:  22.3m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (February 2024)