Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Wood Field (SO 206 916)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, with the height, drop and status of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 7^th March 2017.

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to 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 adjoined to the Beacon Hill range, this group of hills is situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and is positioned above the A 489 road and the village of Sarn which are to its south, and between the larger villages of Yr Ystog (Churchstoke) to the east north-east and Ceri (Kerry) to the west south-west. 

Wood Field (SO 206 916)

The hill appeared in the 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name Gwern-y-go, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the East.  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 and in this instance, use the name of the wood that is situated on the eastern side of the hill and exclude the word Wood from that given to the hill.  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now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was the Tithe map where the name Wood Field was derived from.  

Gwern-y-go

239m

SO206916

137

216

Included by contour configuration. Name from wood to the East.

 

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.

The enclosed land is given the number R64 on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number R64 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 Wood Field on the Tithe map and described as Pasture; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Ceri.

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land is named as Wood Field

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

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Beacon Hill

Name:  Wood Field

Previously Listed Name:  Gwern-y-go 

Summit Height:  238.6m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  137

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 20602 91617  

Drop:  31.5m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Wood Field

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2017)