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

Copperthwaite Moor (SE 053 999)

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 Copperthwaite Moor (SE 053 999)

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 Copperthwaite Moor, and it is adjoined to the Great Shunner Fell group of hills, which are situated in the English Pennines, and it is positioned with minor roads to its north-east, west and south-east, and the B6270 road farther to its south, and has the village of Reeth towards the west south-west.

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 17m of drop, based on the twin 435m summit spot heights positioned at SE 05216 99905 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and positioned at NZ 05189 00016 that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, and the 418m col spot height 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 Copperthwaite Moor (SE 053 000)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 435.5m positioned at NZ 05203 00071.  However, this is the remains of spoil heap from a disused quarry and protocols dictate that as this is deemed a relatively recent man-made construct such ground is discounted from the height of a hill.

The height produced by LIDAR analysis to the natural summit of this hill is 435.3m and this is positioned at SE 05322 99936, and this comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies when the high point of the hill is found to be positioned; in a different field, to a different feature such as in a conifer plantation,  within a different map contour either on Ordnance Survey maps or interactive mapping, to a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, 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 or covered reservoir that is considered a relatively recent man-made construct, or the de-twinning of a summit, 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 435.3m and this is positioned at SE 05322 99936.  This position is approximately 130 metres south-eastward from where the high point of the spoil heap is positioned.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Great Shunner Fell

Name:  Copperthwaite Moor

OS 1:50,000 map:  98

Summit Height:  435.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SE 05322 99936 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  419.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  NZ 04714 00426 (LIDAR)

Drop:  16.0m (LIDAR)

 

Thanks to Ronnie Bowron for details relating to the listed summit position of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2025)