Phil's Hiking Resources

William McKnight Docharty was a member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, the Alpine Club and the Apline Club of Canada. Thirteenth Munroist.

William McKnight Docharty’s research is contained in three books. These were privately published in a limited edition as follows: –

• Main Book 1954 – I understand this to be limited to 260 copies, I have number 198, each has a hand written dedication to his friends. My book is addressed to the Governors, Headmaster, Staff and Boys of Strathallan School (his old school I believe).
• The Supplement Volume 1 – published 1962, I have number 70 dedicated to Bob Gray
• The Supplement Volume 2 – published 1962, I have number 70 dedicated to Bob Gray.

Only the Main Book and Supplement Volume 1 are relevant for his hill research. Supplement Volume 2 contains an Epilogue and a series of Panorama photos.

Given these books are so rare and as such are reflected in their value.  They are a goldmine of information, the level of detail contained therein is unsurpassed by any other List Author in my opinion. I consider it Bridge’s work on steroids.

There are separate lists for Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. I believe he set out with the intention of replicating the Munro and Munro Tops criteria for all summits under 3,000 feet, certainly for Scotland but then excluding subsidiaries/ tops under 3,000 feet of Scottish Mountains of over 3,000 feet. For England and Wales he included the 3,000 foot plus summits and their subsidiaries.

Given this inconsistency probably better to spilt this down by Country/ List

 

Scotland

Part i – List of Independent Scottish Mountains of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,500 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,500 feet. Also including some Independent Scottish Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,500 feet. Total 661 with an additional 22 included in the Supplement Book Total 683.

Part ii – List of Independent British and Irish Mountains of 2,000 feet and over but under 2,500 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,000 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,000 feet. Also including some Independent Scottish Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,000 feet. Total 712.

 

Ireland

List A – Independent Mountains of 3,000 feet and over with their subsidiary Tops. Total 24 with an additional 2 included in the Supplement Book Total 26.

List B – List of Independent Mountains of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,500 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,500 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,500 feet. Total 74.

List C – List of Independent British and Irish Mountains of 2,000 feet and over but under 2,500 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,000 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,000 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,000 feet. Total 143.

 

Wales

List A – Independent Mountains of 3,000 feet and over with their subsidiary Tops. Total 26 with an additional 1 included in the Supplement Book Total 27.

List B – List of Independent Mountains of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,500 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,500 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,500 feet. Total 44.

List C – List of Independent British and Irish Mountains of 2,000 feet and over but under 2,500 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,000 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,000 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,000 feet. Total 82.

 

England

List A – Independent Mountains of 3,000 feet and over with their subsidiary Tops. Total 15 with an additional 1 included in the Supplement Book Total 16.

List B – List of Independent Mountains of 2,500 feet and over but under 3,000 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,500 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,500 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,500 feet. Total 89 with an additional 1 included in the Supplement Book Total 90.

List C – List of Independent British and Irish Mountains of 2,000 feet and over but under 2,500 feet with their subsidiary Tops 2,000 feet and over and some others of interest under 2,000 feet. Also including some Independent Mountains and Tops of interest under 2,000 feet. Total 85.

 

The Summary of all these countries/ Lists is: –

Docharty Summary

	List A	List B/ Part i	List C/ Part ii	Total
Scotland		683	712	1395
Ireland	26	74	143	243
Wales	27	44	82	153
England	16	90	85	191
	69	891	1022	1982
List A/B combined:				960
List Wales/England Combined:				344

 

The main Docharty List on Harold Street currently totals 344 being the aggregation of Wales and England. .

The main Docharty List will eventually finish up at 1,982 summits. How many will be on the sub list is conjecture at this stage as there is no add through and Im having to read his detailed notes line by line.

I’m currently working on Part I for Scotland with just over 300 reviewed to date[, yh Match 2019] you will appreciate it will take me some time to get through the full 1,395 summits.

 

The sub Docharty List.

Within Lists A and B for Wales and England there was an additional column for summits that in his opinion from visits did not warrant including in the Tops column. All the lists also had a comments column which listed even more tops. None of these added through to the Tables. Feels to me a bit like the LaMPs list for the Lake District, where Docharty had identified a top but not of sufficient worth to be included in his main Tables aggregation.

I was warned by others that the complexity in the Docharty Lists had prevented anyone digitising them to date. I believe I have cracked it by splitting them into two lists in a similar way to the Nuttalls/ deleted Nuttalls that didn’t meet the main list criteria.

In conclusion, my view is that these are subjective lists. Yes he had height and drop criteria but then excluded any related to the Munros and also lowered his drop criteria in other areas. The titles of his books (my bolding) rather confirms my considered view: –

• “A Selection of some 900 British and Irish Mountain Tops”
• “The Supplement to A Selection of some 900 British and Irish Mountain Tops and A Selection of 1,000 Tops under 2,500 Feet”

I hope you find this useful, please ask if you have any further questions.

 

Ronnie Bowron

 

 

Author: Phil Newby

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