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

Five Barrows Hill (SS 732 368) 

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 initially conducted by Aled Williams and subsequently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Five Barrows Hill (SS 732 368)

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 Dunkery Beacon group of hills, which are situated in the counties of Somerset and Devon, and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the B3358 road farther to its north and the A399 road farther to its west, and has the small community of Simonsbath towards the north-east.

When the listing that is now known as The Fours – The 400m Hills of Engalnd was originally compiled this hill appeared under the name of Five Burrows Hill; which is the composition of the name that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

However, the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map has the composition of Five Barrows given to the series of ancient tumuli that are positioned on the summit area of this hill and also the name of Five Barrows Cross given to an intersection of roads to the south of the summit.  The composition of the latter name also appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, with both maps favouring the composition of Barrow over that of Burrow. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger 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, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps that formed the basis of the compositional change in the listed name of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

The Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps formed the base map Ordnance Survey used for many decades leading to the production of the 1:10,000 Series of maps, both have now been superseded by the digitised Master Map.  The series of Six-Inch maps are excellent for name placement and especially so compared to the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps that give the composition of the listed name of this hill as Five Barrows Hill.  This composition is also used on a number of other Ordnance Survey maps including the Historical 1:25,000 map. 

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

Therefore, the name composition this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Five Barrows Hill and this was derived from a variety of Ordnance Survey maps including the series of Six-Inch maps and the Historical 1:25,000 map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Dunkery Beacon

Name:  Five Barrows Hill

Previously Listed Name:  Five Burrows Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  180

Summit Height:  493.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 73241 36806 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  411.2m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SS 71978 40661 (LIDAR)

Drop:  82.1m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (February 2024)