Register of Marilyns and Humps Completers for Wales and England

    RHSoc has been awarding badges for several years to those who have completed the Marilyns (P150m) of Wales, and of England, and the HuMPs (P100m) of Wales, and of England.  We have also been keen to promote the excellent Welsh Marilyns and English Marilyns smartphone apps.

    We are now adding to our sponsorship of these four national lists by publishing a Register of those who have completed them.

    The generally accepted rule for a hill-list completion is that you complete the list as it was at the time when you reached your final summit.  Hill lists change over the years, but you are not obliged to go back, unless you want to, to ‘re-complete’ a list.  Online league tables on the Hill Bagging and HaroldStreet websites, and elsewhere, cannot reflect this completion rule and so can be inaccurate.  In addition, they do not present the complete picture, as people use different websites to record their ascents, or none at all.

    In our RHSoc Register, we have strived to record all completions that we can trace in accordance with that rule.  It is nearly impossible to record the order in which people completed each list, so we have opted for a ‘school register’ -type approach, with people arranged in alphabetical order by family name, with a tick to show which lists they have completed.

    The Register will be updated annually, with the new version published each spring in the following year – e.g. the 2026 version published in the spring of 2027.

    There are bound to be errors, omissions and additions needed to the Register and accompanying notes, so please message RHSoc via our contact form to let us know about them, or if you wish your name to be removed.

    Notes

    1. The Marilyns of Wales were first published on pp. 122 – 135 in Alan Dawson’s book The Relative Hills of Britain, published by Cicerone Press in 1992. At the time there were 149 hills listed.  They were later published as the second half of Alan Dawson’s booklet The Hewitts and Marilyns of Wales, published by TACit Press in 1997.  At that time the number had increased to 156.  In 2025 the number stood at 159.  This is now likely to be the definitive list.
    2. The first known person to complete the Marilyns of Wales was Rowland Bowker in 1996. His final hill and the exact date are currently unknown.  The second person to complete was Ann Bowker, on Mwdwl-eithin 532m, P263m (s.30C) in October 1996.  The third person was Tony Payne in 1997.  His final hill and the exact date are currently unknown.  The fourth person was David Purchase, on Mynydd Coety 577m, P277m (s.32C) on 31st July 1999.  The fifth person was Gordon Adshead in August 1999 on Pen y Garn-goch 487m, P160m (s.31C).  The exact date is also currently unknown.
    3. The Marilyns of England were first published on pp. 136 – 157 in Alan Dawson’s book The Relative Hills of Britain, published by Cicerone Press in 1992. At the time, there were 187 hills listed.  They were later published as the second half of Alan Dawson’s booklet The Hewitts and Marilyns of England, published by TACit Press in 1997.  At that time, the number had decreased to 178.  In 2025 the number stood at 173.  This is now likely to be the definitive list.
    4. The first two people known to have completed the Marilyns of England were Ann and Rowland Bowker, together, on Shillhope Law 501m, P159m (r.33) on 11th April 1995. The third person to complete was Tony Payne in 1997.  The name of his last hill and the exact date are currently unknown.  The fourth person was David Purchase, on Whernside 737m, P408m (s.35B) on 3rd June 1999.    The fifth person was David Hoyle later in 1999.  The name of his final hill and exact date are also currently unknown.
    5. The HuMPs of Wales were first published on pp. 146–165 in Mark Jackson’s e-book More Relative Hills of Britain, first published in 2009, and re-tabulated in a second edition in 2010. In 2025 the number in the list stood at 368.  This may not yet be the final, definitive version of this list.
    6. The first person known to have completed the HuMPs of Wales was Rob Woodall in 2011. He was followed by Martin Richardson on Cyrniau on 2nd September, 2011. Des Taylor completed on Cefn yr Ogof 204m, P101m (s.30C) on 24th November 2012, followed by Darren Groutage and Andrew Brown in 2014.  The exact dates and final hills for the first, fourth and fifth completers are not yet known.
    7. The HuMPs of England were first published on pp. 129 - 145 and 166 - 168 in Mark Jackson’s e-book More Relative Hills of Britain, first published in 2009, and re-tabulated in a second edition in 2010. In 2025 the number in the list stood at 440.  This may not yet be the final definitive version of this list.
    8. The first person known to have completed the HuMPs of England was again Rob Woodall in 2011. Again, he was followed by Martin Richardson on Glendhu Hill on 2nd October, 2011.  The third completer was again Des Taylor in 2012, followed by Darren Groutage and Andrew Brown in 2014.  The exact dates and final hills of some of these completers are not yet known.
    9. It is possible that Ann, and perhaps Rowland, Bowker completed the HuMPs of Wales and England, but the evidence so far is not strong enough to include them for these hill-lists in the Register.