Of all the ways to classify the significance of UK hills and mountains, the best known are the Munros. These are the Scottish mountains over 3000 feet in height, of which there are 282, and many hill-baggers make a concerted effort to climb each one. But in less mountainous regions a weaker definition is required, which is where Marilyns come in. The term was first coined by Alan Dawson in his seminal work 'The Relative Hills of Britain'. Marilyns... Munros... the homophonous humour is deliberate.
A Marilyn is any peak with a prominence of at least 150 metres, i.e. a drop of approximately 500 feet on all sides. A Marilyn is therefore relatively high compared to its surroundings, so often resembles a child's drawing of a hill. The definition includes several lowland hills with the good fortune to be fairly isolated (for example at Crowborough) but excludes peaks which lie too close to a higher summit (for example Scafell loses out to Scafell Pike). A lot of people like climbing Marilyns too. [list][list][map]
UK Marilyns by country Scotland: 1219 (75%) England: 175 (11%) Wales: 158 (10%) Northern Ireland: 66 (4%)
Scotland's Marilyns vastly outnumber those in the rest of the UK. England can only muster 175.
English Marilyns by region 82: North West (47%) 26: West Midlands 22: Yorkshire and the Humber, South West 16:South East 9: North East 5: East Midlands 0: East of England, London
Almost half of England's Marilyns are in the North West region, most notably in the Lake District and along the Pennines. The Pennines also account for the majority of the Marilyns in Yorkshire and Northumberland, while the Welsh Borders provide most of the West Midlands' total. There are no Marilyns in the East of England region or in London (although there is one in Kent a mile away from the Greater London boundary). Great Yarmouth is over 100 miles from the closest Marilyn.
English Marilyns by county 70: Cumbria (40%) 18: North Yorkshire 11: Herefordshire 10: Lancashire, Shropshire 7: Northumberland, Somerset 5: Cornwall, East Sussex 3: Derbyshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, West Yorkshire, Worcestershire 2: Devon, Isle of Wight, Kent, Staffs, Surrey, West Sussex, Wilts 1:Berks, Bucks, Cheshire, E Yorks, Hants, Leics, Lincs, Merseyside 0: (17 other counties)
Other hill/mountain definitions are available:
• Majors - a topographical prominence of at least 600m (in England, 4)
• Furths - the same as Munros, but outside Scotland (in England, 6)
• Hewitts - Hills in England, Wales and Ireland over Two Thousand feet (in England, 180)
• Nuttalls - over 2000 feet with a relative height of at least 15m (in England, 254)
• HuMPs - Hundred and upwards Metre Prominences (in England, 444)
• TuMPs - Thirty and upwards Metre Prominences (in England, 3855)
