Update to The Relative Hills of Britain

April 2014

Alan Dawson

This update summarises the most important changes to The Relative Hills of Britain (RHB) since the book was published in April 1992, highlighting changes since the 2010 update.

Acknowledgments

Particular thanks are due to G&J Surveys (John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Myrddyn Phillips) for several accurate survey results, in addition to those carried out by the author using similar GPS equipment. Measurements obtained from hill surveys are quoted to the nearest 10cm. Thanks also to others who have helped find new Marilyns or new summits for existing Marilyns, notably Jim Bloomer, Clem Clements, Chris Crocker, Jonathan de Ferranti, Dave Hewitt, John Owen, Tony Payne, David R Smith and Rob Woodall.

Changes since 2010

Three new Marilyns have been discovered since 2010: Lamberton Hill, Killyleoch Hill and Mynydd Anelog, while Cruim Leacainn has been demoted. The current number of Marilyns is therefore 1556 - 1217 in Scotland, 176 in England, 158 in Wales and 5 in the Isle of Man (Black Mountain is counted in Wales only). Two pairs of hills of similar height have been separated by surveys and their status reversed, so Creag an Dail Bheag and Buidhe Bheinn are now Marilyns, replacing Carn Liath and Sgurr a'Bhac Chaolais.

Additions

The 23 new Marilyns discovered since 1992 are listed below. Arnside Knott is now the smallest English Marilyn and Cheriton Hill the easternmost Marilyn. The drop column refers to the difference in metres between the summit and the col connecting the hill to a higher Marilyn (c means the drop is estimated).

Demotions

The following nine hills listed in RHB have less than 150m drop all round and are no longer Marilyns.

Baystones is listed in RHB but was demoted in 1995, reinstated in 2002 and finally demoted again in 2010. Four hills not in RHB have been promoted to Marilyns in the past but subsequently demoted:

Hill changes

Seven hills listed in RHB have been superseded by a nearby summit:

Birks Fell (35B) was replaced by Horse Head Moor for several years but was reinstated in 2006.

Summit changes

There have been several summit relocations where the highest point has been changed to a nearby grid reference on the same hill. New heights and grid references are shown below.

Meall an Tarsaid (9B) has reverted to NH490132 as listed in RHB, now shown as 493m on OS large-scale mapping.

Confirmations

The following hills listed in RHB have been confirmed as Marilyns following surveys:

Twin peaks

The following pairs of hills are of equal height but the drop between the two is less than 150m. It is hoped that surveys will separate them in the near future.

Surveys have separated the following pairs and confirmed that the hill listed in RHB is higher than its rival:

The trig point on Brandy Hill (31C) is recorded as 206m, so it is no longer twinned with 205m Middleton Hill. Several other summits have two or more nearby points of apparently equal height. Examples include:

An Dun has been surveyed but it is not possible to be certain of the highest point; its tops are very close in height.

Name changes

The Marilyns listed below have been officially renamed. New names for the Corbetts were agreed in consultation with the Scottish Mountaineering Club, though the SMC have since reverted to using previous names.

Druim Tarsuinn (18B) had been renamed Stob a'Bhealach an Sgriodain, as recommended by the SMC, but has been renamed back to Druim Tarsuinn, as this is the name shown on OS maps and currently used by the SMC.

Numerous hills in the Western Isles (Lewis, Harris, Uists, Barra and nearby islands) have been given Gaelic names on recent OS maps, although many of the original names derive from Norse. Thus Clisham is now An Cliseam, Heaval is Sheabhal and so on. In line with current policy of accepting OS maps as definitive unless clearly wrong, most Marilyns in region 24 now have new names, although names such as Muldoanich and North Lee will continue to be used alongside Maol Domhnaich, Li a'Tuath etc.

Height changes

There have been minor changes to the accepted height of numerous hills since RHB was published. Current details are available in the Database of British and Irish Hills and via the hill-bagging.co.uk website.

Submarilyns

A Submarilyn is a hill with a drop all round of 140-149m, i.e. within ten metres of being a Marilyn. There are currently 205 Submarilyns, including five islands (Soay, Tiree, Seil, Colonsay, Lundy) and ten hills in the south of England. Of the nine hills listed in RHB that are no longer Marilyns, seven are now Submarilyns, but Cunnigill Hill and Scafell are not as they have less than 140m drop all round. Numerous hills have been confirmed as Submarilyns not Marilyns as a result of surveys:

This leaves six Submarilyns with 149m drop that are currently awaiting surveys to clarify their status:

There are nine unsurveyed Submarilyns with 148m drop, so there could be more Marilyns yet to be discovered.

Marilyn Hall of Fame

Membership of the Marilyn Hall of Fame is open to anyone who has climbed over 600 Marilyns. By April 2014 there were 280 members. Full details are given in the annual Marilyn Hall of Fame newsletter (Marhofn). Anyone interested in joining the Hall of Fame should contact the Membership Secretary via rhb@rhb.org.uk.

Further information

The RHB website at www.rhb.org.uk provide access to update sheets, copies of Marhofn, the list of Submarilyns, other metric hill lists, and a selection of links to relevant sources such as the RHB mailing list at groups.yahoo.com/groups/rhb. A list of almost 3000 hills with 100m drop all round is available as an ebook called More Relative Hills of Britain, compiled by Mark Jackson. These hills are called Humps, an acronym for Hundred Metres Prominence. This ebook can also be accessed via the RHB website or can be printed via www.lulu.com.