Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Cae Hir (SO 141 964)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, and the following details are in respect of a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 11st January 2015.

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

200m Twmpau - All Welsh hills at and above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

The hill is a part of the Carnedd Wen range, which is an extensive group of hills situated in the southern part of north Wales, and is positioned to the east of the small community of Betws Cedewain and to the west of the Afon Hafren (River Severn).

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Cae Hir

The hill appeared in the 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under an invented name of Moel Pencaenion, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South, with Pencaenion being the name of a farm.  During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to invent a name for a hill if no name seemed to appear for it on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  My preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them.  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.

Moel Pencaenion

299m

SO141964

136

215

Clem/Yeaman. Twin top. Name from buildings to the South.

The name this hill is now listed by is Cae Hir, 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

A close up of the enclosed land on the Tithe map with C. 122 indicating where the summit of this hill is situated

The enclosed land where the summit of Cae Hir is situated is given the number c. 122 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 Cae Hir on the Tithe map and is described as Arable; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Betws Cedewain.

The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named Cae hir on the Tithe map

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carnedd Wen

Name:  Cae Hir

Previously Listed Name:  Moel Pencaenion 

Summit Height:  296.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  136

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 14104 96457 

 

Drop:  100.9m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Cae Hir

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2016)