Hardy (hill)

A Hardy is any one of a category of mountain, hill or high point in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man which is the highest point in either a hill range, an island over 1,000 acres (400 ha), or a top-tier administrative area.

Eggardon Hill, an English Hardy and the highest point on the South Dorset Downs

Hill list

The Hardy hill list was compiled by Ian Hardy in the early 1990s, published in two booklet editions in the later 1990s, and updated in a third edition in 2010 in a much-expanded book format, The Hardys - The UK's High Points.[1][2][3]

The Hardy publication is listed by the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) as an acceptable source for completions of the County Tops of England and Wales,[4] and has featured in its magazine Strider.[5][6] It also features in a 'list of lists' on the Ordnance Survey blog.[7]

The hill list has also featured in Country Walking and The Great Outdoors magazines.[8][9][10][11][12]

Number and location

There are now 347 Hardys identified in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man (with the recent addition (to July 2016) of 5 English low-lying coastal estuary islands): the high points of 61 hill ranges, 96 islands and 190 administrative areas (where the high point is not a hill range or island). There are 183 in England, 31 in Wales, 107 in Scotland and 26 in Northern Ireland.

Within the Hardy list, there are 135 "Core" Hardys, the compiler's original list before a formal lower size limit for islands was established and before the large-scale administrative area changes from the mid-1990s onwards.[13] The highest Hardy is Ben Nevis in Scotland at 1,344 metres, the United Kingdom's highest point, and the lowest location identified is on Hayling Island in Hampshire at only 10 metres. The 5 recent additional Hardys are Portsea Island (343), Foulness (344), Canvey Island (345), Thorney Island (346) and Potton Island (347), all in the South-east of England.

Many Hardys feature in other major hill lists (for example, there are 10 Munros, 23 Hewitts and 127 Marilyns) but the Hardy list is unique in identifying high points in the three separate categories of hill ranges, islands and administrative areas. This means there are Hardys all over the United Kingdom, not just in mountain and hill areas, so many Hardys are in lowland and even urban areas, and on small islands. Thus at least one or more Hardys are accessible wherever a person lives in the United Kingdom, and irrespective of their level of fitness.

Hardys can be "bagged" in the same way as summits in other hill lists.

Hardys of England

Hardys of Northern Ireland

Hardys of Scotland

Hardys of Wales

Crown Dependencies

See also

References
  1. Hardy, Ian. High Points (1997). Potters Bar, Hertfordshire: Ian Hardy.
  2. Hardy, Ian. High Points (1999) 2nd Edition. Potters Bar, Hertfordshire: Ian Hardy.
  3. Hardy, Ian, MVO. The Hardys - The UK's High Points (2010) 3rd Edition. Potters Bar, Hertfordshire: Ian Hardy. ISBN 978-0-9565533-3-1 (internet version, http://www.thehardys.org/), ISBN 978-0-9565533-5-5 (DVD version).
  4. Long Distance Walkers Association. http://www.ldwa.org.uk/ Hillwalkers Register 3
  5. Long Distance Walkers Association. Strider Magazine (April 1999 p.20)
  6. Long Distance Walkers Association. Strider Magazine (August 2010 p.15)
  7. Bagging Munros, Peaks and the Wainwrights at ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Accessed on 15 Mar 2013.
  8. Country Walking Magazine (November 1997 p.72)
  9. Country Walking Magazine (May 2002 p.113)
  10. Country Walking Magazine (November 2010 Things to Do)
  11. The Great Outdoors Magazine (January 1998 p.13)
  12. The Great Outdoors Magazine (July 1999 p.12)
  13. Hardy, Ian. High Points (1992).
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