The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) lies off the north-western coast of mainland Europe.  It comprises the main island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and numerous smaller islands.  The total area is about 245,000 square kilometres. 

The UK consists of the nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have devolved national administrations enjoying varying degrees of autonomy. 

The geology of the UK is very complex, and this complexity gives rise to a great variety of landscapes and scenery.   The oldest rocks (gneisses), which are located in Northern Scotland, are at least 2,700 mya.  For a summary of the geology of the country, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_United_Kingdom. 

The principle upland areas of the UK are in the west and north of Great Britain (and its lesser islands), and in the south-east of Northern Ireland.  More details are given in the subsidiary national pages on this website (see below). 

Most of the mountainous areas of the country are no higher than 1000m (Ben Nevis, the highest peak, is 1344m).  What the hills and mountains of the UK lack in height is made up for by their age.  What is seen today are the ancient stumps of mountain ranges that were originally higher than the Alps.  An additional challenge in climbing the hills of Britain is the rapid changes in weather.

A case could be made that the hills and mountains of the United Kingdom have been listed for ‘peak-bagging’ purposes more than any other country in the world.  However, many of the earliest lists (e.g. the ‘Munros’ – the 3000ft mountains of Scotland, first published in 1891) are particular to one nation in the United Kingdom.   

The first list to comprise all of Great Britain and its lesser islands was composed by Alan Dawson in his seminal work ‘The Relative Hills of Britain’ in 1992, in which he listed all the hills and mountains of at least 150m of prominence (called ‘the Marilyns’).  His book can be found online at http://bubl.ac.uk/org/tacit/marilyns/, with updates at http://www.rhb.org.uk/. 

Alan’s work was further extended by Eric Yeaman, Clem Clements, David Purchase, Tony Payne and Rob Woodall, who produced lists down to 30m of prominence.  These lists were used by a young compiler called Mark Jackson, who put together a grand list of all the hills and mountains of at least 100m of prominence (‘the Hundred Metre Prominences’, or ‘HuMPs’) and, later to 30m of prominence.  His lists can be found in Files section of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rhb/, although you will need to join the Yahoo Group to access them.  Also recommended is http://www.prominentpeaks.org.uk/ - a database of hills in the UK over 500m in height and at least 100m of prominence.

The aim in the lists for the UK presented on this website, and in the various UK nations pages (see below), is to offer hikers some alternative lists based on metric standards, bringing the UK into line with other lists of hills and mountains for mainland Europe to be found on this website.