A mountain surveyor claims the border between England and Wales has been incorrectly marked for more than a century - and England should be given more land.

Myrddyn Phillips says he has worked out that the line separating the two countries in the Black Mountains has been wrongly traced on Ordnance Survey maps dating back to 1887.

The current border follows the natural watershed - ridge of land - from the top of Twyn Llech.

But Mr Phillips said he and fellow surveyor Mark Trengrove remeasured the summit of the 703.5m (2,308ft) peak and found it to be further into Wales than thought.

Image: The England-Wales border at Black Mountain should be moved, according to Mr Phillips

They placed the peak of Twyn Llech some 12m (39ft) into Powys and claim the border should be moved to line up with the new watershed they have calculated.


Since the ridge stretches for nine miles, it would mean there is 1.8 million sq ft of land that England is entitled to take back from Wales, according to The Times.

Mr Phillips said he had concluded from his work that the "border should be moved".

Image: Myrddyn Phillips says the border between England and Wales should be moved

He added: "The simple fact of the matter is that no one had ever surveyed this hill for where its summit is positioned prior to our visit, therefore the border placement on [Ordnance Survey's] MasterMap - although very close to the summit - is still 12m from it."

Despite his calculations, Ordnance Survey has denied that the border was marked incorrectly.

A spokesman told Sky News: "We have checked the boundary information on our large scale product (OS MasterMap) and can confirm that the boundary is accurate.

"We are not aware of any concerns from either Powys or Monmouthshire County Councils who both use boundary line information."