Border between England and Wales is not correctly marked, says expert
A mountain surveyor from Welshpool says the border between England and Wales has been incorrectly marked for decades – and that England should be given more land.
Myrddyn Phillips said the line separating the two countries in the Black Mountains has been wrongly traced on the Ordnance Survey maps.
The current border follows the natural watershed from the summit of the mountain called Twyn Llech.
But Mr Phillips and his hill-walking friend Mark Trengove have remeasured the summit of the 2,308ft mountain - and found it to be further west than is thought.
As a result the England/Wales border should be moved to line up with the new watershed of the mountain, claims Mr Phillips.
And since the ridge stretches for nine miles, there is 1,800,000sq ft of land that England is entitled to take from Wales.
But it is unlikely anything will be done to remap the border because it will require new legislation.
Mr Phillips, 57, has supplied the national mapping agency Ordnance Survey with his finding but they say are not obliged to make any changes.
He said: “The word watershed has been retained against this border on Ordnance Survey mapping for over 130 years.
"Their 1887 map shows the border marked as ‘Watershed’. I wanted confirmation if the border was on the watershed as their 1887 map shows.
“If so the consensus of opinion amongst many hill-walkers is that, if the summit of the hill is in Wales, then the hill qualifies as a Welsh hill.
Matt Redmond, deputy chief executive of the Boundary Commission for Wales, said: “As far as the commission is concerned the Ordnance Survey MasterMap is the definitive boundary and it is fine. We at the commission are content with where the boundary is.
“To make the changes that Mr Phillips would like to see would require primary legislation. There is no legal mechanism in place to change the boundary.”
Last year, Mr Phillips found that Fan y Big, also in Powys, was smaller than previously thought when he measured it with satellite-based technology.
It was downgraded from a mountain to a hill after Mr Phillips calculated the summit as being at 2,351ft - lower than the recorded 2,359ft.
