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

Caer Caradoc (SO 477 953)

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 a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams.

Caer Caradoc (SO 477 953)

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 are three categories of sub hills, these are the 400m Sub-Fours, the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, with the 1^st edition of the booklet containing this list published by Europeaklist in December 2013 and by Haroldstreet in January 2014, with the 2^nd edition of this list due for publication by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018.

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

The hill is adjoined to the Stiperstones group of hills, which are situated in the county of Shropshire close to the Welsh border, and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-east, the A49 road to its west and the B4571 road to its south, and has the town of Church Stretton towards the south-west.

When the listing that is now known as The Fours - The 400m Hills of England was originally compiled this hill appeared under the transposed name of Caer Caradoc Hill, this was also the name it appeared as when the list was uploaded to the RHB Yahoo group file database.  Subsequently the hill was listed by this same name when the 1^st edition of The Fours was published by Europeaklist in December 2013. 

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

Hill list authors are prone to list a hill by the name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, with little consideration for its local usage and historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate, and in the case of this hill it was research conducted locally that concluded that the word hill is seldom used in relation to this hill and its name, and that it is predominantly known as Caer Caradoc.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Caer Caradoc and this was derived from local enquiry. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Stiperstones

Name:  Caer Caradoc

Previously Listed Name:  Caer Caradoc Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  137, 138

Summit Height:  459.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 47745 95390 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

  

Col Height:  185.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 45734 93768 (LIDAR)

Drop:  274.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2018)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Stiperstones

10.03.17  Caer Caradoc (SO 477 953, only col surveyed)

The view south from the road bridge onto the col area of Caer Caradoc

There is a perverse sense of enjoyment when surveying in unusual places, be it a field next to a road, on a road itself, on a driveway adjacent to a house or as in today’s example – a railway platform.

The col in question for today’s little adventure is adjoined to Caer Caradoc, which is listed as a Marilyn, Hump and Four, and it is placed either on, or near to the tracks adjacent to the platform at the railway station in Church Stretton.

I’d examined the positioning of this col via contours on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping on the Geograph website as well as having whizzed round the town in a Google car on Google Maps, I’d also made a mental note of the lay of the land adjacent to the railway station on a recent visit to the town.  The above indicated that the critical col is placed adjacent to the tracks of the railway.

I parked close to the platform on the eastern side of the railway which gives access over a foot bridge to the platform on the opposite side.  The foot bridge gives a vantage point looking down on the railway tracks as they disappear heading south, map contours indicate that the land in this direction is descending and although using ones eye to judge such a thing is not ideal, this looked like the case.  The view northward was obstructed by the road leading into Church Stretton as its bridge passed over the railway.

The view south from the foot bridge

The view north from the foot bridge

I’d previously judged where a suitable ten figure grid reference would be for positioning the Trimble and this was on the easterly sided platform and before setting the equipment up I waited for a train to pull out heading north.  As the Trimble ebbed down to its required 0.1m accuracy level before data should be logged another train pulled in, this time heading south, I waited until this had left before activating the Trimble for its five minutes allotted data collection.

Waiting to activate the Trimble as the southward bound train prepares to leave

As another train headed in from the south the last of the 300 allotted data points were stored and I closed the Trimble off just before the train pulled up.  Having measured the offset between the Trimble positioned atop my rucksack and the platform at its base, and also the offset between the platform and the gravel beside the railway tracks I now wanted to try and follow the valley to valley traverse from the railway platform.

I walked over the foot bridge to the western side of the railway and headed on to the B4371 road that leaves the A49 road and heads in to the town centre of Church Stretton, a 189m spot height appears on this road on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping on the Geograph website, visually the positioning of this spot height is on the upward part of the hill to hill traverse, therefore I dismissed it and concentrated my efforts on the northern side of the B4371.

The view north from the road bridge

The col contours on the northern side of this road make their way toward the railway via a greened recreational area, on the opposite side of the railway tracks is a small industrial park, and I wandered round this assessing the lay of land in comparison to the adjacent railway track.  I concluded that the platform from where I collected data from is as good a place as any for the critical col for Caer Caradoc to be placed, with the caveat that the only natural ground remaining in this whole area is the scrub land immediately beside the railway, all other land has been terra-formed.

Happy with my morning’s exertions I headed back to my car and proceeded toward Worcester for a few relaxing days of good company, good food and good conversation.

LIDAR col image of Caer Caradoc (summit at SO 477 953, col at SO 457 937)

Postscript: 

Since the survey of this hill LIDAR has become available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for this hill has been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for its col being prioritised. 

Survey Result:

Caer Caradoc (significant name change)

Summit Height:  459.5m (converted to OSGM15, from previous Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 47745 95390 (from previous Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey) 

Col Height:  185.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 45734 93768 (LIDAR)

Drop:  274.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Dominance:  59.67% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

 

For details of the summit survey of Caer Caradoc

For details of the 2nd visit to Caer Caradoc

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Stiperstones

24.09.16  Caer Caradoc (SO 477 953, previously Trimbled), Willstone Hill (SO 485 943), Hope Bowdler Hill (SO 479 940) and Helmeth Hill (SO 469 938, only col Trimbled)   

Willstone Hill (SO 485 943)

The Shropshire hills offer so much, with their quiet beauty being a joy to re-visit.  The heartland of these hills is centred on the small market town of Church Stretton, and it here that Mark had suggested to meet; also joining us was Bob Kerr, who was driving north from Southampton and kindly taking me to Scotland afterward for Rick and Jen’s celebratory completion of the Marilyns.

Leaving two cars in the town I then drove northward to squeeze my car beside a gate on a track that gave us access to Caer Caradoc, which is one of the gems of upland Shropshire.

This chosen route gave us access to the north ridge of the hill and as height was gained The Lawley stood proud with the flat plains beyond only reaching skyward again with the up thrust of The Wrekin, which proved an ever present distant pyramidal profile placed on the horizon.

The Lawley (SO 494 974)

Mark and Bob on the way up Caer Caradoc

Thankfully the forecast was for dry, albeit gusty conditions and as we crested the upper part of Caer Caradoc the wind blasted across the landscape.  The customary summit photographs were taken with Bob adopting a celebratory pose as he ticked off another Marilyn.

At the summit of Caer Caradoc

Dropping off the hill south-eastward gave us shelter and good paths led us down toward the col of Hope Bowdler Hill, which is listed as a Hump and Four, and which was our next main hill of the day.  I’d previously surveyed Caer Caradoc with Charlie Leventon in March 2015, so decided to concentrate on summits and cols that had not yet been Trimbled.

Willstone Hill and Hope Bowdler Hill from the descent of Caer Caradoc

Reaching the col I set the Trimble up placed on top of my rucksack to give it elevation above its immediate surrounds, quickly measured a 0.44m offset between its internal antenna and the ground at the base of the rucksack and once the 0.1m accuracy level was attained, pressed ‘Log’ and scampered off to join Mark and Bob who were happily munching on their lunch.

Gathering data at the col of Hope Bowdler Hill

Above us were the gently sloped upper reaches of Hope Bowdler Hill and its lower neighbour; Willstone Hill, which is listed as a Sub-Four with the minimum qualifying drop of c 20m.  It seemed a shame to miss out on giving this hill an accurate height and drop and so after the col data was gathered we headed its way.

Willstone Hill is crowned by rounded heathland with a volcanic plug at its far north end, the high point of which clearly vied for being the summit of the hill.  Bob skipped up it and conducted a quick precision survey comparing its height against that of the heathland at its base, it was decided to Trimble both, and as Mark and Bob waited patiently I positioned the Trimble aligned with the high point of the rock outcrop and as the strength of the wind was somewhat strong I attached its dog lead which I held as the five minutes of data were gathered.

Bob on the top of the relocated summit of Willstone Hill

The art of precision surveying

The Trimble attached to its dog lead at the summit of Willstone Hill

Afterward I set the Trimble up on my rucksack on the summit area of land near the base of the rock outcrop and as the five minutes of data were collected Mark and Bob headed down to the adjoining col seeking shelter out of the wind.

Gathering data at the area of the lower heath land summit of Willstone Hill

Once data were gathered I joined them and we all set about pinpointing the critical col of Willstrone Hill, this proved to be ground beside a fence which thankfully was well sheltered from the strong wind.  Once the customary five minutes of data were gathered I packed the Trimble away and we walked up the good path to the summit of Hope Bowdler Hill.

Gathering data at the col of Willstone Hill

The high point of Hope Bowdler Hill is about 14 metres from its small summit cairn amongst heathland scrub of wind-blown grass.  Having been away from Trimbling hills for two months it was good to be out again, and especially so in the company of Mark and Bob, both of whom I hadn’t seen for quite a time. 

Gathering data at the summit area of Hope Bowdler Hill

After summit data were stored we retraced our inward route back toward the hill’s col and continued on another good path, this time amongst bracken toward the col of Helmeth Hill which was our last hill of the day.

The wooded summit of Helmeth Hill from the descent of Caer Caradoc

The col was positioned in a field and was Trimbled, however the summit is positioned in an attractive deciduous wood and although I set the Trimble up at the high point it did not achieve its accuracy level before data should be logged, and having waited five minutes for it to do so, we decided that I should switch the equipment off and it was time to head down.

Gathering data at the col area of Helmeth Hill

Our route toward Church Stretton took us steeply down through the wood and on to paths and tracks leading us to the periphery of the town.  Mark later checked the distance and ascent for the day’s walk and with approximately 600m of ascent it had proved a good day out, it was also good to see both Mark and Bob again, hopefully we’ll be on the hill again shortly.

LIDAR image of Hope Bowdler Hill (SO 479 940)

Postscript:

Since the survey of these hills LIDAR has become available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for these hills have been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for some of these hills being prioritised.

Survey Result:

Caer Caradoc (significant name change)

Summit Height:  459.5m (converted to OSGM15, from previous Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 47745 95390 (from previous Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey) 

Col Height:  185.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 45734 93768 (LIDAR)

Drop:  274.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Dominance:  59.67% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Willstone Hill

Summit Height:  404.65m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 48564 94370 (summit relocation)

Col Height:  382.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 48190 94230

Drop:  22.4m

Dominance:  5.54%

Hope Bowdler Hill

Summit Height:  425.5m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 47952 94040 & SO 47953 94042 & SO 47957 94045 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  306.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 47961 94519 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  119.5m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 col)

Dominance:  28.09% (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 col)

Helmeth Hill

Summit Height:  344.1m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 46948 93848 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  304.5m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 47133 93753 (LIDAR)

Drop:  39.6m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  11.52% (LIDAR)

For details of the summit survey of Caer Caradoc

For details of the col survey of Caer Caradoc

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Stiperstones

25.03.15  Caer Caradoc (SO 477 953) and The Lawley (SO 494 974)   

The Lawley (SO 494 974)

Caer Caradoc stands steeply sided overlooking the fertile Shropshire plain with the town of Church Stretton expanding across the valley as it butts up against the sides of the Long Mynd.  This part of the valley is known as the Stretton Gap and the hills that rise on the east are aligned north-east – south-west and form a line of similarly shaped hills from Ragleth Hill in the south all the way to The Wrekin in the north.

I’d wanted to re-visit Caer Caradoc for a number of years as my only previous visit was in 1988 and my memories were of a hill that was steep from all sides and gave expansive views.  The opportunity to re-visit presented itself as the weather forecast was good with breaking cloud in the afternoon and a day without rain, which was then predicted to sweep in from the west over the next four days.

Visiting Caer Caradoc had been previously planned with Charlie Leventon who has extensive knowledge of the Shropshire hills, we decided on a two car walk and to also take in The Lawley which is another finely shaped hill and a natural extensive from Caer Caradoc.

As we set off from the high point of the B4371 between Church Stretton and the hamlet of Hope Bowdler a group of about 20 walkers were heading up Hope Bowdler Hill, which is another Four I hope to visit with Charlie later in the year.  We soon joined a good path as it gained height and made its way to the east of the wooded top of Helmeth Hill, ahead lay Caer Caradoc with its small rock outcrops prominent on the horizon.

Caer Caradoc from the path to the east of Helmeth Hill

We chose a slanting path up the hill’s eastern face; the alternative tackles this face straight on and looked a little steep for a late morning’s enjoyment.  Once on the upper ridge on the hill the view’s opened up with Church Stretton nestled in the valley below and the extended bulk of the Long Mynd dominating the western view.

Charlie on the lower section of Caer Cardaoc

The upper section of Caer Caradoc has impressive earthen ramparts and this is where the hill gets its name from; Caradog’s fort being named after Caractacus, who according to local legend made his last stand on this hill against the Roman legion’s during the Roman conquest of Britain.

Looking past the earthen ramparts to The Lawley

The summit of the hill is crowned by a small rock outcrop, as I set the Trimble up with its front and rear end straddling a gap and delicately balanced with its internal antenna aligned to the highest part of rock, Charlie admired the view and then walked part of the ramparts as the Trimble gathered its allotted five minutes of data.

Gathering data at the summit of Caer Caradoc

Charlie walking part of the ramparts

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the summit of Caer Caradoc with the Long Mynd in the background

We had a butty break after the Trimble was packed away and chatted, by now the temperature was fluctuating from being slightly chilly as cloud shielded the sun to being pleasant when in sunshine, by the time we were ready to move the cloud had increased and it was time to get warm again with a steep descent of the hill’s northern ridge.  This ridge led down to a few houses at Cromley and gave excellent views of The Lawley.

By now we had walked out from underneath the cloud cover and the sun seemed to blaze down, although the last few walks I’d done had been in the first warmth of spring, today the ascent of The Lawley proved the first time this year when the sun’s strength proved a little too warm for the gear I was wearing, I sweated and toiled as we slowly walked up the hill’s southern ridge.  One false top led to another as Charlie told me of his fell running days when he had run around the base of this hill from north to south and then over its summit and down again in about 27 minutes, I chuckled at this and remembered the day’s when my speed around the hills was a little quicker than my now steady plod.

Approaching the summit of The Lawley

The summit of The Lawley is crowned by rock and has the remains of the base of a trig pillar on it as well as an attractive weather cock; this rises to the sky perched on top of what looked like an old telegraph pole. 

The weathercock atop The Lawley

As the Trimble gathered its data we sat on the steeply angled western side of the hill and looked out toward the far off Berwyn, whose rounded and distinct elongated ridge could easily be picked out to the west.

Gathering data at the summit of The Lawley

As the five minutes of allocated data collection neared its end I walked up to the Trimble to switch it off and found a multitude of small spiders clambering over it, all attracted to its bright yellow façade, I showed them to Charlie and then blew them off back into the grass.

The bright yellow colour of the Trimble attracted a swarm of small spiders

The north-eastern ridge of The Lawley with The Wrekin in the background

All that remained was the walk down the hill’s north-eastern ridge back to where my car waited, it had been another excellent walk and it was great to be out with Charlie who I hadn’t seen since our walk over part of the Long Mynd in February of last year.

LIDAR image of The Lawley (SO 494 974)

Postscript: 

Since the survey of these hills LIDAR has become available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for these hills have been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for each col being used. 

Survey Result:

Caer Caradoc (significant name change)

Summit Height:  459.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 47745 95390 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Col Height:  185.3m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 45734 93768 (LIDAR)

Drop:  274.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Dominance:  59.67% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

The Lawley

Summit Height:  377.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 49469 97493 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Height:  268.0m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 49663 96280 (LIDAR)

Drop:  109.0m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

Dominance:  28.92% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

For details of the 2nd visit to Caer Caradoc

For details of the col survey of Caer Caradoc

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}