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 (42/49)
Bedfordshire 243m ✓
Cambridgeshire 146m ✓
Cumbria 146m ✓
Durham 788m ✓
Gloucestershire 330m ✓
Herefordshire
Lancashire 628m ✓
Norfolk
Nottinghamshire 205m ✓
Somerset
Surrey 295m ✓
West Sussex 280m ✓
Berkshire 297m ✓
Cheshire 559m ✓
Derbyshire 636m ✓
East Yorkshire 246m ✓
Greater London 245m ✓
Hertfordshire 244m ✓
Leicestershire 278m ✓
North Yorkshire 736m ✓
Oxfordshire 261m ✓
South Yorkshire 550m ✓
Tyne & Wear 259m ✓
West Yorkshire 582m ✓
Bristol 160m ✓
City of London 22m ✓
Devon
East Sussex 248m ✓
Greater Manchester 542m ✓
Isle of Wight 241m ✓
Lincolnshire 168m ✓
Northamptonshire 225m ✓
Rutland
Staffordshire 520m ✓
Warwickshire 261m ✓
Wiltshire 294m ✓
Buckinghamshire 267m ✓
Cornwall
Dorset
Essex 147m ✓
Hampshire 286m ✓
Kent 251m ✓
Merseyside 179m ✓
Northumberland 815m ✓
Shropshire 540m ✓
Suffolk 128m ✓
West Midlands 271m ✓
Worcestershire 425m ✓
Abolished English Counties (7/10)
(with their own county tops)
County of London 134m ✓
Middlesex
Westmorland 950m ✓
East Suffolk
Parts of Holland 8m ✓
Huntingdonshire 81m ✓
Parts of Kesteven 151m ✓
Counties of Northern Ireland ✓ (6/6)
County Antrim 550m ✓
County Derry/Londonderry 678m ✓
County Armagh 573m ✓
County Tyrone 678m ✓
County Down 850m ✓
County Fermanagh 665m ✓
Shires of Scotland (18/33)
Aberdeenshire 1,309m ✓
Banffshire 1,309m ✓
Clackmannanshire
Fife
Kirkcudbrightshire 843m ✓
Nairnshire
Renfrewshire 522m ✓
Stirlingshire 974m ✓
Zetland
Angus
Berwickshire 532m ✓
Dumfriesshire 821m ✓
Inverness-shire
Lanarkshire 748m ✓
Orkney
Ross & Cromarty
Sutherland
Argyll
Bute
Dunbartonshire 943m ✓
Kincardineshire
Midlothian 651m ✓
Peeblesshire 840m ✓
Roxburghshire 777m ✓
West Lothian 312m ✓
Ayrshire 782m ✓
Caithness
East Lothian 535m ✓
Kinross-shire
Moray
Perthshire 1,214m ✓
Selkirkshire 744m ✓
Wigtownshire 322m ✓
Abolished Scottish Shires (0/1)
(with their own county tops)
Cromarty
Historic Counties of Wales (10/13)
Anglesey 220m ✓
Sir Fôn
Carmarthenshire 781m ✓
Sir Gaerfyrddin/Sir Gâ
Merionethshire 905m ✓
Sir Feirionnydd/Meirionnydd
Radnorshire
Sir Faesyfed
Brecknockshire 886m ✓
Sir Frycheiniog
Denbighshire 830m ✓
Sir Ddinbych
Monmouthshire
Sir Fynwy
Caernarfonshire 1,085m ✓
Sir Gaernarfon
Flintshire 555m ✓
Sir y Fflint
Montgomeryshire 827m ✓
Sir Drefaldwyn
Cardiganshire
Sir Aberteifi/Ceredigion
Glamorgan 600m ✓
Sir Forgannwg/Morgannwg
Christopher John 