Tuesday 7 February 2017

Change Register – The Fours – 390m Sub-Fours


Change Register

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

390m Sub-Fours


The Fours are the English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have a minimum drop of 30m.  The list’s initial compilation was completed in November 2002 and entitled The 400m Peaks of England and was first published on 19th December 2002 on the RHB Yahoo Group file database along with the equivalent Welsh and Manx hills, with the file entitled the 400m hills of England, Isle of Man and Wales, this file was uploaded by Rob Woodall who later augmented data from Clem Clements into the database.

The original publication on the RHB Yahoo Group file database was later duplicated en masse by Mark Jackson without prior consultation with, or even notification to the author, with these data forming the equivalent part of the Tumps and with this act resulting in years of undue data divergence that is ongoing.

Over subsequent years the listing now known as The Fours has been published on the Europeaklist website (15th December 2013) available as a downloadable e-booklet and print-booklet version and on the Haroldstreet website (6th January 2014) available as GPS Waypoints, Google mapping and online hill bagging tick lists.

The compilation that originated in 2002 and all subsequent publications of this list had an accompanying sub list that is now named the 400m Sub-Fours.  However, it wasn’t until the Europeaklist publication and the subsequent Haroldstreet publication that the listing included two other sub categories; the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours and this Change Register details those hills that are, or have been listed within the 390m Sub-Four category.

The 390m Sub-Fours are those hills that fail to meet the Four qualification by 10m or less of height, these are the hills that are 390m or more and below 400m in height that have a minimum 30m of drop.

The 390m Sub-Four hills first appeared as a category of hill in the December 2013 publication by Europeaklist, when this version of The Fours was published there were 50 hills listed that met the qualification for 390m Sub-Four status, all of these hills were identified leading up to this publication, and after The Fours was later published on 6th January 2014 by Phil Newby on his Haroldstreet website all future updates to the list have been catalogued on the Mapping Mountains site.

Since its original publication The Fours has changed greatly as the list is now co-authored with Aled Williams, and although the criteria has remained the same for the main P30 list, it now also includes two other sub categories; the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours.  The listing also benefits from accurate surveys conducted by independent surveyors using GPS / GNSS receivers, an expanded range of Ordnance Survey maps available online and most recently, by analysis of LIDAR data enabling greater accuracy for numerical data.  However, it is not just numerical data that has seen this list develop since its first inception, it is also place-name data, and it was because of this and their mutual interest in hill lists that the authors first corresponded.  The listing is also gaining in popularity as there are now two known completers of The Fours with another 38 people having completed 100 or more of these hills.

It seems fitting that the list of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England – 390m Sub-Fours should now benefit from a detailed Change Register, and although updates to this sub category have been detailed on the Mapping Mountains site, it is prudent for this Change Register to initially detail the changes to this sub list since the December 2013 publication by Europeaklist.

The Change Register to The Fours – The 400m Hills of England – 390m Sub-Fours appears below with the reclassifications to the list being detailed chronologically in receding order.




Change Register

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

390m Sub-Fours






Silver Howe    393.8m at NY 32477 06643 

LIDAR image of Silver Howe (NY 324 066)

The reclassification of this hill from 390m Sub-Four status to 390m Double Sub-Four status was announced in a Hill Reclassifications post published on Mapping Mountains on the 14.11.22.  When the 2nd edition of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24.04.18 this hill was listed with an estimated c 31m of drop, based on the 395m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and an estimated c 364m col height based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 360m – 365m that appeared on the OS Maps website.  Its reclassification was prompted by Joe Nuttall who produced a summit analysis programme using LIDAR, and confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, resulting in a 393.8m summit height and a 364.1m col height, with these values giving this hill 29.7m of drop.  390m Sub-Four total decreases by one and confirmed as 51.





Green Side    395.5m at NT 90695 07602

LIDAR image of Green Side (NT 906 076)

The addition of this hill to 390m Sub-Four status was announced in a Hill Reclassifications post published on Mapping Mountains on the 06.08.20.  When the 2nd edition of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24.04.18 this hill was not classified but was listed with an estimated c 17m of drop, based on the 389m summit height adjoined to a triangulation pillar that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, and an estimated c 372 col height based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 370m – 375m that appear on the OS Maps website.  However, as LIDAR analysis initiated by Joe Nuttall and subsequently Jim Bloomer gave the adjacent hill of Lord’s Seat (NT 912 079) as lower the details for these hills were re-assessed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, resulting in a 395.5m summit height and a 339.5m col height, with these values giving this hill 56.0m of drop, which is sufficient for 390m Sub-Four status.  390m Sub-Four total increases by one and confirmed as 52.





Lord’s Seat    392.2m at NT 91281 07968 and NT 91282 07966

LIDAR image of Lord's Seat (NT 912 079)

The reclassification of this hill from 390m Sub-Four to 390m Double Sub-Four status was announced in a Hill Reclassifications post published on Mapping Mountains on the 31.07.20.  When the 2nd edition of The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24.04.18 this hill was listed with an estimated c 53m of drop, based on the 392m summit spot height and an estimated c 339m col height based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 330m – 340m that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.  However, as LIDAR analysis initiated by Joe Nuttall and subsequently Jim Bloomer gave the adjacent hill of Green Side (NT 906 076) as higher the details for this hill were re-assessed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, resulting in a 392.2m summit height and a 370.9m col height, with these values giving this hill 21.3m of drop, which is insufficient for 390m Double Sub-Four status.  390m Sub-Four total decreases by one and confirmed as 51.



24th April 2018 – Haroldstreet publishes The Fours. 

390m Sub-Four total confirmed as 52.




24th April 2018 – Mapping Mountains Publications publishes The Fours. 

390m Sub-Four total confirmed as 52.




Silver Howe    395m at NY 32477 06643

THIS HILL HAS SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN RECLASSIFIED TO 390m DOUBLE SUB-FOUR STATUS

The reclassification of this hill to 390m Sub-Four status was announced when the 2nd edition of The Fours was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24.04.18, with a Hill Reclassifications post appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 27.06.18, the hill was previously listed as a 390m Double Sub-Four with c 28m of drop based on the 395m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated col height of c 367m based on 360m – 370m col contours at 10m intervals.  This hill’s reclassification is due to analysis of data on the OS Maps website, which is the recent replacement for OS Get-a-map.  This mapping has 5m contour intervals enabling the estimated height of the col to be narrowed down, and with an estimated col height of c 364m, based on interpolation of contours between 360m – 365m, these values give this hill c 31m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified to 390m Sub-Four status.  390m Sub-Four total increases by one and confirmed as 52.





The Cold Piece    399.5m at SO 33849 99695

The Cold Piece is now classified as a 390m Sub-Four

This is the first hill reclassified from a Four to a 390m Sub-Four through surveying with a GNSS receiver and the Hill Reclassification post was published on Mapping Mountains on the 07.11.14.  Its previous status as a Four was reliant upon a small 400m summit ring contour that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, but its continuing status in the main 400m list was always under threat as the only absolute height found for this hill was the 1311ft (399.6m) height on the Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 map.  The hill was subsequently surveyed on the 05.11.14 by Myrddyn Phillips with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 resulting in a 399.5m summit height, which is insufficient for retention as a Four.  390m Sub-Four total increases by one and confirmed as 51.



6th January 2014 – Haroldstreet publishes The Fours. 

390m Sub-Four total confirmed as 50.




15th December 2013 – Europeaklist publishes The Fours. 

390m Sub-Four total confirmed as 50.






Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (February 2017)

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