Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales

Foel Fawr (SJ 130 146)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant, with the summit height and drop of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 4^th May 2017.

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

Y Trichant - These are the Welsh hills at and above 300m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop,  with the introduction to the re-naming and publication history of this list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 13^th May 2017.

The hill is a part of the Y Berwyn range, this group of hills is situated in the south-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A4), and is positioned above the small community of Meifod which is towards the south-east of the hill. 

Foel Fawr (SJ 130 146)

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the partly invented name of Pen Rhosfawr Uchaf, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the North-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.  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now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was the Tithe map where the name Foel Fawr was derived.  

Pen Rhosfawr Uchaf

311m

SJ131147

125

239

Name from buildings to the North-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.

Accessing information on the Tithe map is simplified with the use of a split screen enabling the boundary of enclosed land to be compared

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 234 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 Foel Fawr on the Tithe map; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Meifod.

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land is named as Foel Fawr

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant is Foel Fawr and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Y Berwyn

Name:  Foel Fawr

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Rhosfawr Uchaf 

Summit Height:  309.5m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 13095 14685 

 

Drop:  54.4m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Foel Fawr

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2017)