Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales – Introduction to renaming

Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

Introduction

The listing of the Y Trichant takes in all Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height that have a minimum drop of 30m, with these hills forming the 300m height band within the listing of the Twmpau (thirty welsh metre prominences and upward).  

This list was first published on 22^nd October 2004 on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website and entitled The Welsh 300 Metre Peaks, coinciding with Geoff’s publication the list was also published by Mike Grant on his 5everdene website.

Middletown Hill (SJ 305 133) a Trichant in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales

The next publication of the list was in January 2005 on the RHB Yahoo Group file database, with the file later updated in January 2006 and entitled 300-499 Man Eng Wales, this file was uploaded by Rob Woodall who also augmented data from Clem Clements into the database.

It was the publication on the RHB Yahoo Group file database that was later duplicated en masse by Mark Jackson without prior consultation with, or even notification to the author, with these data forming the equivalent part of the Tumps and with this act resulting in years of undue data divergence that is ongoing.

When the list was first published it was during a time when the limits of listing P30 hills was being pushed ever downward beyond the 500m barrier, there were two main instigators behind this burst of listing activity; Clem Clements concentrating on 300m – 500m Scottish, English and Welsh hills and Myrddyn Phillips concentrating on 30m – 500m Welsh hills and 400m – 500m English hills.

The master list is maintained by Myrddyn Phillips and has been fully re-evaluated using the latest online mapping, accompanying the main P30 list is a sub category entitled the Sub-Trichant, this sub list takes in all Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.

Although the criteria has remained the same the list has changed greatly since its first publication with the advent of independent surveyors and the use of LIDAR data enabling greater accuracy for numerical data, and meticulous research being conducted locally and historically which enhances the place-name data.

Since the advent of Mapping Mountains in November 2013 all status changes to this list have been documented in Hill Reclassification posts and all updates through accurate surveying and the analysis of LIDAR data have also been detailed.

The name Y Trichant is apt for such a list as when translated into English it means the three hundred.  The use of a Welsh title also follows what is now becoming traditional with listings that I am associated with and follows the format of the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales, Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales and the aforementioned Twmpau.  With the first two of these listings now co-authored with Aled Williams who has kindly supplied his analysis of LIDAR data for the Y Trichant.

The fully updated list of the Y Trichant including the Sub-Trichant will be published in the future, but for now the detail given above serves as an introduction to the list and its re-naming.

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2017)