Yes it was the same for the British adjectival trad system, ES used to be the top grade (after HVS) and this grade is now divided into an open ended scale E1-E1

Yes it was the same for the British adjectival trad system, ES used to be the top grade (after HVS) and this grade is now divided into an open ended scale E1-E11... but I think this probably caused some hard climbs to be categorised as HVS in an attempt to differentiate from the _really_ hard climbs in ES at the time. It's worth checking the FA date around this grade in old crags for this reason, but even being aware in my case - it was surprising just how much harder they can be.