Deweys

The list of Deweys was first published by Michael Dewey in 1995 in his book 'Mountain Tables of the mountain and hill summits of England and Wales'. The list covers hills in England, Wales and the Isle of Man that are at least 500m high with a drop of at least 30m on all sides.

When the list was published there was no upper bound on height, but it has become common only to apply the name to hills below 609.6m (2000ft) high, as hills over 609.6m with a 30m drop are duplicated on the list of Hewitts.

When I initiailly started hill walking my initial aim was to complete all the 2000ft mountain in the Yorkshire Dales and Howgill Fells. As I neared completion it seemed natural to me to begin visiting the Deweys too. I'm glad I did as the Dewey list has taken me on some fascinating walks to some fairly unfrequented areas of the Dales and beyond.

Now that I have spread my net wider to encompass the Pennines the Dewey list again comes into its own in terms of providing a good target list for the main hills in areas that are not blessed with an abundance of higher mountains, the Peak District for example.

The list below only shows the Deweys in the Cheviots and Pennines, in total 108 of England's 181 Deweys are to be found in the Pennines and Cheviots. For a full list of English and Welsh Deweys go to the Database of British Hills website.

19/04/11 - A recent survey has found that Kirkby Fell, near Malham in the Yorkshire Dales, qualifies as a Dewey. This makes Kirkby Fell the first new addition to the list of Deweys for about 10 years.

25/04/14 - Since I originally put this page together four years ago eight tops that featured have been deleted from the list of Deweys. These are Linghaw and Hand Lake in the Howgill Fells, Little Fell in Mallerstang, Watch Hill and Thack Moor in the North Pennines, and Girdle Fell, Mozie Law and Beefstand Hill in the Cheviots. With the exception of Girdle Fell I'd already climbed them either before they were removed or before I was aware they had been deleted from the list. Thack Moor was removed because it was promoted to the list of Hewitts and Nuttalls as England's newest mountain.

Cheviot and Pennine Deweys completed: 103 / 108 = 95.37%