Y Pellennig - The Remotest Hills of Wales



Yr Wyddfa


A ‘Pellennig’ is a remote hill in Wales, defined as having a minimum of 2.5km from its summit to the nearest paved public road and a minimum prominence of 15m.  It is fitting to name the list ‘Y Pellennig’, as the Welsh word pellennig translates as ‘remote’ or ‘distant’.  The listing has been compiled by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and there are 173 hills that qualify for ‘The Complete List’ with 127 of these being listed in ‘The Mainland List’, which excludes the more inaccessible island summits. 

The listing can be viewed as a totally new concept, as no other British Isles hill list based on remoteness has been previously published.  The criteria adopted for this list was chosen for an overall total that would set a challenge for completion and to include hills of interest and merit.  These criteria are not comparable to the mountains of the Scottish Highlands, but works extremely well for the topographical scale that defines the Scottish Southern Uplands, England, Ireland and Wales. 
As mentioned above, in order to present a realistic challenge for completion ‘The Mainland List’ was devised, which excludes 46 hills found on remote Welsh islands; many of which have landing restrictions due to seabird nesting colonies or present technical difficulty in their ascent.  Therefore, ‘The Mainland List’ was created specifically for those walkers/baggers that are unlikely to attempt ‘The Complete List’.  Climbing all ‘Pellennig’ hills is a considerable task and, in a time when the St Kilda sea stacks have been climbed for Marilyn completions, similarly, ‘The Complete List’ should not be thought of as unachievable.
The list has been compiled from the most recently available on-line mapping with over 19% of the qualifying hills having been surveyed by GNSS/GPS survey-grade receivers.  Each and every hill name has been painstakingly researched, with the bulk of this work being conducted by Aled Williams using current and historical documents including Ordnance Survey, estate survey, tithe and nautical maps and charts.  Aled has combined these cartographic name sources with his local research in the Welsh uplands, scrutinising each hill name for correct composition and most appropriate name choice.
The final product is a unique hill list that will take the user to some of the most beautiful and lonely land in Wales.

This list has been published four times in booklet format: 

1st Edition (Issue 1) April 2015

1st dition (Issue 2) November 2015 

2nd Edition (Issue 1) July 2016 

2nd Edition (Issue 2) October 2020 

As other commitments currently prevent the authors from fully revising this booklet, the decision was made to postpone work on a third edition.  In order to bridge the gap between a future edition and the now outdated second edition, this latest issue will serve to update the list so that all major reclassifications and summit relocations are covered.  This includes the addition of six new hills, the deletion of one hill and three significant summit relocations, bringing the totals to 173 for the Complete List and 127 for the Mainland List. 

For all additions and deletions to this list since the April 2015 1st Edition was published by Europeaklist please refer to the Change Register on Mapping Mountains. 



Download the e-booklet version for use on a PC, mobile or tablet.

Download the print-booklet version to create an A5-sized booklet.  Print on both sides of an A4 sheet to produce a 48-page booklet using 12 x A4 paper  


The 2nd Edition (Issue 2) October 2020 booklet can be downloaded via the links below:








Previous editions for reference:

The 1st Edition (Issue 1) April 2015 booklet: Y Pellennig - e-booklet version 

The 1st Edition (Issue 2) November 2015 booklet: Y Pellennig - e-booklet version

The 2nd Edition (Issue 1) July 2016 booklet:  Y Pellennig - e-booklet version



 




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