Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

 

Scarth (NY 846 162) 

There has been a Summit Relocation 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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data and by an on-site Abney level survey conducted by Ronnie Bowron, which was initiated by detail in the summit analysis programme produced by Joe Nuttall, and confirmed by subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Scarth (NY 846 162)

The criteria for the list that this summit relocation 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 listed 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 name the hill is listed by is Scarth, and it is adjoined to the Cross Fell group of hills, which are situated in the Pennines of northern England, and it is positioned with the B6276 road to its west and the A66 road to its south, and has the small town of Brough towards the west south-west.

When the 2^nd edition of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018, this hill was listed with an estimated c 24m of drop, based on an estimated c 481m summit height and an estimated c 457m col height, with both heights based on interpolation of 10m contouring that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

The prioritised summit position given for this hill in the 2^nd edition of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England is NY 848 164, with an accompanying note stating; A second c 480m ring contour positioned at NY 846 162 may be as high and has been estimated as c 481m. 

The details for this hill have now been checked on-site by Ronnie Bowron, who conducted an Abney level survey, resulting in the confirmation that the summit of this hill is positioned at approximately NY 84676 16265. 

The above detail comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are: 

The term Summit Relocations applies when the hill’s high point is found to be positioned; in a different field, to a different feature such as in a conifer plantation, placed within a different map contour, to a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, or when natural ground or the natural and intact summit of a hill is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary that is judged to be a relatively recent man-made construct, or a relocation of approximately 100 metres or more in distance from either the position of a map spot height or from where the summit of the hill was previously thought to exist. 

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. 

LIDAR summit image of Scarth (SN 846 162)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 481.3m positioned at NY 84676 16264, as opposed to the previously listed summit which LIDAR analysis gives as 479.6m positioned at NY 84815 16430.

Therefore, the listed summit height of this hill is 481.3m and its new position is NY 84676 16264, this position is not given a spot height on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and is approximately 165 metres south-westward from where the previously listed summit is positioned. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cross Fell

Name:  Scarth

OS 1:50,000 map:  91, 92

Summit Height:  481.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  NY 84676 16264 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  459.2m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 84836 16245 (LIDAR)

Drop:  22.1m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2021)