Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Marilyns

Baystones (NY 403 051) – Marilyn reclassified to Submarilyn

This is one in a series of retrospective Hill Reclassification posts that detail hills whose status has altered in the listing of the English Marilyns.  These reclassification posts will give details of hills where I have had direct association with their change of status, and they will tie in with a forthcoming Change Register giving detail to this list and its alterations since publication in the TACit Tables booklet

The listing of English Marilyns was published in booklet format by TACit Tables in June 1997 and entitled The Hewitts and Marilyns of England.  The Marilyns were originally listed as an all British compilation and were published by Cicerone Press in 1992 in the book entitled The Relative Hills of Britain.  The list compiler for the Marilyns is Alan Dawson.

When the English Marilyns list was published in booklet format there were 178 qualifying hills with a further 39 English Submarilyns also included.  The criteria for Marilyn status being any hill that has a drop of at least 150m, irrespective of their height, with the criteria for Submarilyn being any hill that has 140m or more and below 150m of drop.

The Hewitts and Marilyns of England by Alan Dawson

The details for the hill reclassification appear below:

The name of the hill is Baystones, and it is situated in the Far Eastern Fells of the Lake District, and is positioned with the A591 road to its west and the A592 road to its east, and has the town of Ambleside towards the west south-west.

The classification of this hill has a convoluted history, as it was originally listed as a Marilyn in the 1992 publication of The Relative Hills of Britain; it was subsequently reclassified to Submarilyn status in 1995 with 149m of drop and then re-instated as a Marilyn in May 2001 with 150m of drop with a 488m summit height and 338m col height based on information Alan Dawson received from Ordnance Survey.

The Leica 530 gathering data at the col of Baystones

As its 150m listed drop value was the minimum required for Marilyn status it was prioritised for a GNSS survey and this took place on the 18^th September 2009.  The summit and col of this hill were surveyed by John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Myrddyn Phillips using a Leica 530 with 45 minutes of data gathered at each point.  The survey resulted in a 486.9m summit height and a 339.2m col height, with these values giving this hill 147.7m of drop.

The Leica 530 gathering data at the summit of Baystones

The reclassification of this hill from Marilyn to Submarilyn status was accepted by the list author; Alan Dawson, and its new classification augmented in to the listing of Marilyns and announced on the 11^th February 2010.

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Baystones

OS 1:50,000 map:  90

OS 1:25,000 map:  7

Summit Height:  486.9m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  NY 40312 05143

Col Height:  339.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 40614 06556

Drop:  147.7m

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2020)