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

Esgair Cerrig (SN 952 432)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in Y Pellennig - The Remotest Hills of Wales and the Y Pedwarau, with the summit height, drop and status of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which was conducted on the 28^th December 2016, with the summit of the hill previously analysed via LIDAR data by Aled Williams.

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

Y Pellennig –The Remotest Hills of Wales comprise all Welsh hills whose summit is 2.5km or more from the nearest paved public road and which have a minimum 15m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams.

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, with the introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 30th January 2017.

The hill is a part of the Mynydd Epynt range, this group of hills is situated in the south-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B-2), and is positioned above the small community of Llangamarch (Llangammarch Wells) to the north north-west and the small town of Llanwrtyd (Llanwrtyd Wells) to the west north-west. 

Esgair Cerrig (SN 952 432)

The hill appeared in the 400m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name Twyn Rhyd-car North Top, with an accompanying note stating Name from hill to the south.  Hill list authors are prone to list a hill by the name that appears nearest to its summit on Ordnance Survey maps, without much consideration for its local or historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate, and when the hill is unnamed on Ordnance Survey maps list authors are prone to either invent a name for the hill, supplant a name from a near feature that can result in an inappropriate name or they can use a directional name from a near named hill, and in the case of this hill it was the latter that I opted for, using the name of Twyn Rhyd Car and adding the directional element of North Top. 

Twyn Rhyd-car North Top

456m

SN956435

147/160

188

Name from hill to the South

  

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 historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was a local farmer who gave the name Esgair Cerrig for land taking in the summit of this hill.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in Y Pellennig - The Remotest Hills of Wales and Y Pedwarau is Esgair Cerrig and this was derived from local enquiry.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Epynt

Name:  Esgair Cerrig

Previously Listed Name:  Twyn Rhyd-car North Top 

Summit Height:  456.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  147, 160

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 95224 43297 

 

Drop:  35.6m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Esgair Cerrig

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (January 2017)