There are few greater pleasures in life than being able to stand atop one’s home county and declare to be the highest person in your “Shire”. Of course, why stop there? As a Yorkshireman, to stand at the pinnacle of Lancashire and look down upon all my dearly loved rivals, I feel a sensation almost as exquisite. In fact, as Yorkshireman who claims his county is by far the greatest on this sceptred isle, I really should get a view of all the others, and where is the best view if not from the very top. These “county tops” as they are called, come in all shapes and sizes, just like the counties themselves. As I endeavour to climb them all, let me explain a bit about each county, their hills, and the very nature of counties themselves…
Ceremonial Counties of England
Bedfordshire
Cambridgeshire 146m ✓
Cumbria 146m ✓
Durham 788m ✓
Gloucestershire
Herefordshire
Lancashire 628m ✓
Norfolk
Nottinghamshire
Somerset
Surrey
West Sussex
Berkshire
Cheshire 559m ✓
Derbyshire 636m ✓
East Yorkshire 246m ✓
Greater London
Hertfordshire
Leicestershire
North Yorkshire 736m ✓
Oxfordshire
South Yorkshire 550m ✓
Tyne & Wear 259m ✓
West Yorkshire 582m ✓
Bristol
City of London
Devon
East Sussex
Greater Manchester 542m ✓
Isle of Wight 241m ✓
Lincolnshire 168m ✓
Northamptonshire
Rutland
Staffordshire 520m ✓
Warwickshire
Wiltshire
Buckinghamshire
Cornwall
Dorset
Essex
Hampshire
Kent
Merseyside
Northumberland 815m ✓
Shropshire
Suffolk
West Midlands
Worcestershire
Abolished English Counties
(with their own county tops)
County of London
Middlesex
Westmorland 950m ✓
East Suffolk
Parts of Holland
Huntingdonshire 81m ✓
Parts of Kesteven
Counties of Northern Ireland
County Antrim
County Derry/Londonderry
County Armagh
County Tyrone
County Down
County Fermanagh
Shires of Scotland
Aberdeenshire
Banffshire
Clackmannanshire
Fife
Kirkcudbrightshire
Nairnshire
Renfrewshire
Stirlingshire
Zetland
Angus
Berwickshire
Dumfriesshire
Inverness-shire
Lanarkshire
Orkney
Ross & Cromarty
Sutherland
Argyll
Bute
Dunbartonshire
Kincardineshire
Midlothian
Peeblesshire
Roxburghshire 777m ✓
West Lothian
Ayrshire
Caithness
East Lothian
Kinross-shire
Moray
Perthshire
Selkirkshire
Wigtownshire
Abolished Scottish Shires
(with their own county tops)
Cromarty
Historic Counties of Wales
Anglesey 220m ✓
Sir Fôn
Carmarthenshire
Sir Gaerfyrddin/Sir Gâ
Merionethshire
Sir Feirionnydd/Meirionnydd
Radnorshire
Sir Faesyfed
Brecknockshire
Sir Frycheiniog
Denbighshire
Sir Ddinbych
Monmouthshire
Sir Fynwy
Caernarfonshire 1,085m ✓
Sir Gaernarfon
Flintshire
Sir y Fflint
Montgomeryshire
Sir Drefaldwyn
Cardiganshire
Sir Aberteifi/Ceredigion
Glamorganshire
Sir Forgannwg/Morgannwg
Christopher John 