Update to The Relative Hills of Britain

February 2017

Alan Dawson

This update summarises the most important changes to The Relative Hills of Britain (RHB) since the book was published in April 1992. Changes since the beginning of 2014 are highlighted and linked.

Changes since 2014

Five new Marilyns have been discovered since early 2014:

Creag an Amalaidh
Creag na h-Eararuidh
Creag Toll a'Choin
Kirriereoch Hill
Sithean Mor

Creag na h-Eararuidh replaces Beinn Dearg (Glen Artney) and Creag Toll a'Choin replaces Maoile Lunndaidh.

Three Marilyns have been demoted:

Stob na Boine Druim-fhinn
Swyre Head
Troweir Hill

The current number of Marilyns is therefore 1556. The summits of several hills have been relocated since 2014: Beinn an Lochain, Creag a'Ghobhair, Hensbarrow Downs, Muncaster Fell and Na Maoilean. Details below.

Additions

The 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 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. Five hills not in RHB have been promoted to Marilyns in the past but subsequently demoted:

Hill changes

The following hills listed in RHB have been superseded by a nearby summit: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.

Confirmations

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

Rival summits

Surveys have separated the following pairs of hills 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.

Name changes

The Marilyns listed below have been officially renamed. The names of Shee of Ardtalnaig and Beinn a'Chlachain were agreed in consultation with Fiona Torbet. New names for the Corbetts were agreed in consultation with the Scottish Mountaineering Club.

Druim Tarsuinn (18B) had been renamed Stob a'Bhealach an Sgriodain, as recommended by the SMC, but has been renamed back to Druim Tarsuinn.

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 206 Submarilyns, including five islands (Soay, Tiree, Seil, Colonsay, Lundy) and ten hills in the south of England. Of the eleven hills listed in RHB that are no longer Marilyns, nine 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:

There are now only two unsurveyed Submarilyns with 148m or 149m drop, and only one unsurveyed Marilyn with 150m drop, so further changes are still possible but getting much less probable.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Myrddyn Phillips and GJ Surveys for several accurate survey results, in addition to those carried out by the author using similar GNSS equipment. Measurements obtained from hill surveys are quoted to the nearest 0.1m. 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, Mark Jackson, John Owen, Tony Payne, David R Smith and Rob Woodall.