Marilyn (hill)

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Map of Marilyns in the British Isles

A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the British Isles with a relative height of at least 150 metres, regardless of absolute height or other merit. The name is a used as a humorous contrast to the designation Munro, used of a Scottish mountain with a height of more than 3000 feet, which is homophonous with Monroe.

There are currently 1554 Marilyns identified in Great Britain: 1214 in Scotland, 180 in England, 156 in Wales and 5 on the Isle of Man (Black Mountain is in both England and Wales). There are a further 453 Marilyns in Ireland. The list of Marilyns in Britain was compiled by Alan Dawson in his book The Relative Hills of Britain , and continues to change as the Ordnance Survey brings out new maps with revised heights for hills and the passes between them. The list was extended into Ireland by Clem Clements in a booklet, The Hewitts and Marilyns of Ireland .

Many of the largest hills are Marilyns, including Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon. On the other hand, many large hills, including some which are classed as Munros, and other well-known hills such as Bowfell, the Langdale Pikes, and Carnedd Dafydd, are not Marilyns because they do not meet the relative height criterion. However, some infrequently-visited or lower hills such as Seatallan and Watch Hill on the edges of Lakeland, and the Long Mynd in Shropshire, do qualify because of their isolation from higher peaks. Not all of the Marilyns are even hills in the usual sense: one lies within the East Sussex town of Crowborough, whilst the top of the Yorkshire Wolds, Bishop Wilton Wold, lines alongside the A166 road. At the other extreme are two sea stacks in the St Kilda archipelago, over 130 km west of the Scottish mainland.

Marilyns tend to be sidelined in Scotland by the existence of several other systems, such as the Grahams, Donalds, Corbetts and Munros. Nevertheless, some hillwalkers attempt to climb as many Marilyns as possible as a form of peak bagging. As of 2005, no one has completed the list; however, three people are only five short.

Lists of Marilyns
Isle of Man |  Wales |  England |  Northern Ireland |  Ireland
Scotland: Southern Highlands | Northern Highlands | Islands | Lowlands

See also

• Hill lists in the British Isles

External links

• [Marilyn News Centre]
• [Marilyns group on Flickr]

References