Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

Harry Cross Edge (SE 144 727) 

There has been a Significant Name Change 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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Harry Cross Edge (SE 144 727)

The criteria for the list that this name change 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 hill is adjoined to the Whernside group of hills, which are situated in the Pennines of northern England, and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the B6165 road farther to its south, and has the town of Pateley Bridge towards the south.

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 under two provisional names; Fountains Earth Moor and Covill House Moor, the former appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, whilst the latter appears just on the 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

Since the compilation of this list there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps in conjunction with the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map that form the basis of the change in the listed name of this hill.

The Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps formed the base map Ordnance Survey used for many decades leading to the production of the 1:10,000 Series of maps, both have now been superseded by the digitised Master Map.  The series of Six-Inch maps are excellent for name placement and especially so compared to the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and it is the series of Six-Inch maps that position the name of Harry Cross Edge adjacent to land where the summit of this hill is situated.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours – The 400m Hills of England is Harry Cross Edge and this was derived from the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map with confirmation of name placement from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Whernside

Name:  Harry Cross Edge

Previously Listed Name:  Fountains Earth Moor/Covill House Moor 

OS 1:50,000 map:  99

Summit Height:  407.9m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SE 14496 72797 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  390.1m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SE 14367 73326 (LIDAR)

Drop:  17.9m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2025)