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

 

Buttern Hill (SX 652 885) 

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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Buttern Hill (SX 652 885)

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 Buttern Hill, and it is adjoined to the High Willhays group of hills, which are situated in the south-west of England, and it is positioned with a series of minor roads towards its east, and has the town of Chagford 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 18m of drop, based on the 413m summit spot height positioned at SX 65283 88668 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 395m col spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map.  With the caveat that the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map has a 413m spot height positioned at SX 65308 88423. 

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 Buttern Hill (SX 652 885)

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 414.3m positioned at SX 65272 88551, 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 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 listing of a new twin summit or 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 414.3m and this is positioned at SX 65272 88551.  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 117 metres southward from where the originally listed summit is positioned.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  High Willhays

Name:  Buttern Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  191

Summit Height:  414.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SX 65272 88551 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  395.9m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SX 64912 88541 (LIDAR)

Drop:  18.3m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2026)