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

Swinescar Pike (NY 314 070) 

There has been a Summit Relocation to a hill 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 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Swinescar Pike (NY 314 070)

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 is a sub list entitled the Sub-Fours, the criteria for which are all English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 15m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is available to download in Google Doc format from the Mapping Mountains site.

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

The name the hill is listed by is Swinescar Pike, and it is adjoined to the High Raise group of hills, which are situated in the English Lake District, and it is positioned with the B5343 road to its south-west and the A591 road to its east, and has the village of Grasmere towards the east.

When the Introduction to the first group of hills for the updated and revised listing of the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was published by Mapping Mountains on the 10^th September 2022, it was announced that the accompanying sub lists were being revised with the two 390m categories dispensed with and the criteria and name of the 400m Sub-Fours revised.  The one accompanying sub list is now named the Sub-Fours with its criteria being all English hills 400m and above and below 500m in height that have 15m and more and below 30m of drop.

Prior to this revision this hill was listed with an estimated c 15m of drop, based on an estimated c 411m summit height positioned at NY 31360 07174 and an estimated c 396m 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

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 Swinescar Pike (NY 314 070)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 410.4m positioned at NY 31486 07005, and when compared to its originally listed summit position this comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies to when the high point is positioned in a different field, to a different feature such as a conifer plantation, within a different map contour, a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary or covered reservoir that is considered 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.

Therefore, the summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 410.4m and this is positioned at NY 31486 07005.  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 170 metres south-eastward from where the originally listed summit is positioned.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  High Raise

Name:  Swinescar Pike

OS 1:50,000 map:  90

Summit Height:  410.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  NY 31486 07005 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  390.4m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NY 31215 07233 (LIDAR)

Drop:  20.0m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (January 2025)