Summit Definitions

The various lists of UK summits, mountains and hills can be confusing, particularly for visitors. Here is a brief description of each category.

Birkett

A Birkett is an English Lake District Hill over 1000ft (approximately 305m) above sea level. They are described in Bill Birkett's book - Complete Lakeland Fells.

Bridge

A now obselete list of the summits in England and Wales over 2000 feet high, defined by G Bridge in his book "The Mountains of England and Wales"

Corbett

A Corbett is a Scottish hill between 2500 and 2999 feet high with a drop of at least 500 feet (152.4m) on all sides.

County Top

A County Top is the highest point in an administrative county or unitary authority of England and Wales.

Dewey

A Dewey is a mountain or hill in England, Wales or the Isle of Man, that exceeds 500 metres in height but is below 610 metres (2000ft) It must be separated from adjacent tops by a height difference of at least 30 metres on all sides.

Donald.

A list created by Percy Donald showing all the hills in "southern Scotland" over 2,000 feet high. Largely superceded by Dawson's New Donalds list.

Graham

A Graham is a Scottish hill between 2000 and 2499 feet high with a drop of at least 150 metres on all sides.

Hewitt

A Hewitt is a hill in England, Wales or Ireland over 2000 feet above sea level (610m) with a drop of at least 30 metres (98 feet) all round.

HuMP

A HuMPs is a hill in England, Wales or Scotland with relative height over 100 metres. All Marilyns are HuMPs. HuMPs is an acronym for Hundred Metre Prominence.

Marilyn

A Marilyn is a hill in England, Wales or Scotland of any height with a drop of 150 metres (nearly 500 ft) or more on all sides, that is is a with a prominence of 150m compared to its surroundings. The SOTA programme in the UK is based on the list of Marilyns. The Marilyns were named by Alan Dawson and were described in his book - The Relative Hills of Britain. The full text of his book and updated lists can be found here

Munro

A Munro is a Scottish mountain over 3000 ft in height, distinct and separate from its surrounding mountains.

Murdo

A Murdo is a Scottish mountain over 3000 ft in height, with a drop of at least 30 metres (98 feet) on all sides.

New Donald

A New Donald is a Scottish hill lying south of the Highland boundary fault which is over 2,000 feet high and has a drop of at least 30 metres on all sides. The New Donald list is Alan Dawson's update of the original Donalds list.

Nuttall

A Nuttall is any summit of 2000ft (610m) or more which rises above its surroundings on all sides by at least 50ft (15m).

SWEAT

A SWEAT (Summit of Wales and England) is a summit in Wales or England above 2000 feet high with a drop of at least 30 metres on all sides. They have been largly superceeded by the list of Hewitts, which includes the summits of Ireland.

Wainwright

A Wainwright is a hill that appears in one of the seven volumes of Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells or his volume 'The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'. There is no height or prominence defininition.