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 following details relating to a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 13^th December 2014.

The criteria for the list that this name change affects are:

200m Twmpau - The word Twmpau is an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward, and the criteria for the 200m height band of hills within the overall Twmpau are; all Welsh hills at and above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop,  with an accompanying sub category entitled the 200m Sub-Twmapu with these being all Welsh hills at and above 200m and below 300m in height that have 20m and more and below 30m of drop. 

The hill is situated in the Y Berwyn, which is an extensive hill range in the south-eastern part of north Wales, and is positioned between the small communities of Dolanog to the south-west; Pontrobert to the south-east and Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa to the north and it overlooks the Afon Efyrnwy (River Vyrnwy) to the south.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Ffridd

The hill appeared in the Sub List that accompanied the 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website and its status as a 200m Sub-Twmpau was confirmed by the survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000.  The hill appeared in this Sub List under the name of Penygorddyn, this name appears closest to this listed hill’s summit but strictly applies to a 274m map heighted hill at SJ 081 140 whose summit area comprises a banked and possibly ditched hilltop enclosure that is now immersed in a conifer plantation.  During my early hill listing I used the map name that appeared closest to the summit of the listed hill, without due consideration for its positional value, doing so can perpetuate the use of inappropriate names.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with research either conducted locally or historically an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

Penygorddyn

296m

SJ084141

125

239

The name this hill is now listed by is Ffridd and this was derived from 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.

Accessing information on the Tithe map is simplified by the use of a split screen enabling the summit to be pinpointed on the map on the right and for the same point to appear on the Tithe map on the left

The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Frydd on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of Ffridd 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 Frydd [sic] (Ffridd conforming to standard modern Welsh) on the Tithe map, and it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Y Berwyn

Name:  Ffridd

Previously Listed Name:  Penygorddyn

 

Summit Height:  295.9m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 08441 14114 

 

Drop:  29.1m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Ffridd

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2016)