Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales

Belan (SJ 222 324)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau, and the following details are in respect of a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 7^th June 2015.

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

Y Pedwarau - These are the Welsh hills at and above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, and the introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appeared on the 30th January 2017.

The hill is a part of the Y Berwyn, which is an extensive group of hills situated in the south-eastern part of north Wales.  The hill is positioned between the small communities of Rhydycroesau to the south-east, Selattyn and Craignant to the north-east and Tregeiriog to the west north-west.

Belan (SJ 222 324)

The hill appeared in the 400m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name Pen-y-gwely, with an accompanying note stating; Name from reservoir to the South.  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, use the name of a reservoir to the south of the hill.  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.  

Pen-y-gwely

412m

SJ222324

126

240/255

MP survey: 30.2m / 99'. Height from Explorer 240. Name from reservoir to the South.

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historical such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the enlarged map on the Geograph website.  One of the historical maps now available is the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map which was the first map made publicly available by the Ordnance Survey.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map

The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ was the first map that Ordnance Survey published, and  they were based on the preceding Draft Surveyors map.  Their publication culminated from the whole of Britain being surveyed between 1791 and 1874 and the detail gathered therein produced at a scale of one inch to the mile and published in sheet format between 1805 and 1874.  The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ maps for the whole of Wales are now available online; they are also available in map format as enlarged and re-projected versions to match the scale and dimensions of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series and are published by Cassini.  This series of maps forms another important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names and bridge the time frame leading to the production of the Ordnance Survey base map of the Six-Inch series.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in Y Pedwarau is Belan, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Y Berwyn

Name:  Belan

Previously Listed Name:  Pen-y-gwely 

Summit Height:  411.2m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  126

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 22211 32401  

Drop:  30.0m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Belan

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2016)