Sunday, 23 August 2020

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – The Fours


Standing Stone Hill (SD 950 303) – Double Sub-Four addition

There has been an addition to the listing of 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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data.


This spreadsheet is being evaluated by a number of people, including Ronnie Bowron, who passed the details of this hill for evaluation.

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

The FoursThe 400m Hills of England.  English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main listing of The Fours are three categories of sub hills, with this hill being added to the Double Sub-Four category, the criteria for which are all English hills at or above 390m and below 400m 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 2nd edition of the booklet containing this list was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24th April 2018.

The Fours - The 400m Hills of England by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The name the hill is listed by is Standing Stone Hill, and it is adjoined to the Pendle group of hills, which are situated in the Pennines of northern England (Region 36: The Southern Pennines), and it is positioned with minor roads to its north-east and south, and farther afield it has the A646 road to its south-west and the A6033 road to its east, and has the town of Hebden Bridge towards the south-east.

When the 2nd edition of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018, this hill was not included but was provisionally listed with 20m of drop, based on the 398m summit spot height adjoined to a triangulation pillar and the 378m col spot height that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

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

These details have now been re-assessed against the mapping on the OS Maps website.  This is the replacement for OS Get-a-map and has contours at 5m intervals which are 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 is digitally updated and the position of the 378m spot height has been checked against the col contours which are between 375m – 380m, resulting in an estimated c 377m col height.  This when coupled with its summit relocation to SD 95042 30320 and an estimated summit height of c 399m due to an Abney level survey conducted by Ronnie Bowron, gives this hill an estimated c 22m of drop.

Extract from the OS Maps website

Therefore, the addition of Standing Stone Hill to Double Sub-Four status is due to re-assessment of contemporary mapping produced from Ordnance Survey data and an on-site Abney level survey, resulting in an estimated c 399m summit height and a c 377m col height, with these values giving this hill an estimated c 22m of drop, which is sufficient for Double Sub-Four status.


The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Pendle

Name:  Standing Stone Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  103

Summit Height:  c 399m (relative to triangulation pillar)

Summit Grid Reference:  SD 95042 30320 (hand-held GPS)

Col Height:  c 377m (interpolation)

Col Grid Reference:  SD 94516 30295 (interpolation)

Drop:  c 22m (relative to triangulation pillar summit and interpolated col)


For the additions, deletions and reclassifications to The Fours reported on Mapping Mountains since the December 2013 publication of the list by Europeaklist please consult the following Change Registers:










Our thanks to Joe Nuttall and Ronnie Bowron for bringing the details of this hill to our attention.

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2020)


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