Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Ffridd (SJ 084 141)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Ffridd (SJ 084 141)

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are:

200m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 200m Sub-Twmpau, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

200m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Foel Cedig group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-east and the B4382 road to its north-west and south, and has the small community of Dolanog towards the south-west.

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill appeared under the transposed name of Penygorddyn, which is a prominent name that appears to the south-west of the hill on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Penygorddyn

296m

SJ084141

125

239

During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to either invent a name for a hill, or use a name that appeared near to the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  My preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance transpose a prominent name that appears near the hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.                 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

As the summit of this hill comprises bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe map.  The term Tithe map is generally given to a map of a Welsh or English parish or township and which was prepared after the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act.  This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods.  The Tithe maps gave names of owners and occupiers of land in each parish and importantly for place-name research they also included the name of enclosed land.  This enclosed land is usually based on a field system, however not every field is given a name, but many are and especially so in Wales. 

Extract from the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 1005 on the Tithe map, this can be cross referenced against the apportionments; it is these apportionments that give the name of the owner or occupier of the land as well as the name of the land.  The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Ffridd in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanfihangel, and in the county named as Montgomery. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Ffridd, and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Foel Cedig

Name:  Ffridd

Previously Listed Name:  Penygorddyn

 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  295.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 08441 14114 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

 

Bwlch Height:  266.3m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Gried Reference:  SJ 08281 14699 (LIDAR)

Drop:  29.6m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2016)