Birketts are the 541 English peaks described in
Bill Birkett
Thomas William Birkett (born 1952) better known as Bill Birkett is an English civil engineer, mountain writer, photographer and climber from the Lake District, Cumbria who has undertaken many expeditions around the world.
Early life
Bill Bi ...
's 1994 guidebook, ''Complete Lakeland Fells''. The author defined them as all hills within the boundary of the
Lake District National Park
The Lake District National Park is a national park in North West England that includes all of the central Lake District, though the town of Kendal, some coastal areas, and the Lakeland Peninsulas are outside the park boundary.
The area was desi ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
which are over in height.
Bill Birkett's book became a popular list for
peak bagging
Peak bagging or hill bagging is an activity in which hikers, climbers, and mountaineers attempt to reach a collection of summits, published in the form of a list. This activity has been popularized around the world, with lists such as 100 Peaks ...
in the Lake District, along with the more popular
Wainwrights
Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cum ...
. Because both lists are based on historical books, unlike for example the
Murdos, their constituents remain fixed, regardless of revisions to height or other metrics. In this regard, they are similar to the
Scottish lowlands
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...
,
Donalds. The
Long Distance Walkers Association
The Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) is a British not for profit, volunteer-led association whose aim is "to further the common interests of those who enjoy long distance walking". The LDWA is an association of people with the common inte ...
maintains a register of people who have completed the Birketts. One of Birkett's peaks,
Pillar Rock, which is also classed as a
Nuttall, but not a Wainwright, requires climbing ropes and climbing equipment to summit.
There are 541 Birketts, which include 209 of the 214 Wainwrights, and 59 of the 116 Wainwright Outlying Fells.
Birketts range from hills, such as the smallest Birkett,
Great Stickle, at , to major mountains in the British Isles, such as
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell Pi ...
, at just over .
While 65 of the Birketts have a prominence above , and are
Marilyns, 159 have a prominence below , and 42 of these are below .
54 of the 514 peaks are solely Birketts, and meet no other mountain or hill classification in the British Isles.
Birketts by height
This list is from the ''
Database of British and Irish Hills
The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...
'' ("DoBIH") in October 2018, and are peaks the DoBIH marks as being Birketts ("B").
The DoBIH updates their measurements as more surveys are recorded, so these tables should not be amended or updated unless the entire DoBIH data is re–downloaded again.
Wainwrights that are not Birketts
This list is from the ''
Database of British and Irish Hills
The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...
'' ("DoBIH") in October 2018, and are five
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
peaks the DoBIH marks as being Wainwrights ("W"), but not Birketts ("B"). The DoBIH updates their measurements as more surveys are recorded, so these tables should not be amended or updated unless the entire DoBIH data is re-downloaded again.
Bibliography
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DoBIH codes
The DoBIH uses the following codes for the various
classifications of mountains and hills in the British Isles, which many of the above peaks also fall into:
suffixes:
= twin
See also
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List of mountains of the British Isles by height
This is a list of mountains in Britain and Ireland by height and by prominence. Height and prominence are the most important metrics for the classifications of mountains by the UIAA; with isolation a distant third criterion. The list is sourced ...
*
List of mountains of the British Isles by prominence
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Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles
The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...
*
List of Wainwrights in the Lake District
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List of hill passes of the Lake District
Hill passes of the Lake District were originally used by people in one valley travelling to another nearby without having to go many miles around a steep ridge of intervening hills. Historically, in the Lake District of northwest England, trav ...
*''
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland
''The Outlying Fells of Lakeland'' is a 1974 book written by Alfred Wainwright dealing with hills in and around the Lake District of England. It differs from Wainwright's '' Pictorial Guides'' in that each of its 56 chapters describes a walk, ...
''
Notes
References
External links
The Database of British and Irish Hills (DoBIH) the largest database of British Isles mountains
Hill Bagging UK & Ireland the searchable interface for the DoBIH
The Relative Hills of Britain a website dedicated to mountain and hill classification
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Birketts in the Lake District
Birketts
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Birketts