Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Humps

Pen y Darren (SN 764 943) – Non-prioritised Twin Hump reclassified to Hump

This is the twenty third in a series of Hill Reclassification posts that detail hills whose status has been altered in the listing of the Humps (HUndred Metre Prominences) through map study and / or surveys that I have instigated.

Pen y Darren (SN 764 943)

The hill name used in this and forthcoming posts is that used in the listing of Humps, therefore individual names and their composition may not match those that are used in listings I am directly associated with.  However, I am of firm belief that listed hill names used by other authors should be respected when giving detail within other people’s lists, however inappropriate some hill names may be considered.

This and forthcoming posts are retrospective as many of these hill reclassifications were initiated from studying the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping that is hosted on the Geograph website, or in this instance from a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000, and for the reclassifications that affected the Humps the survey of this hill took place on the 18.05.14.

The listing of Humps was published in book format by Lulu in 2009 and entitled More Relative Hills of Britain, its author; Mark Jackson gives credit to a number of people who contributed toward the formation of this list, these include; Eric Yeaman, Alan Dawson, Clem Clements, Rob Woodall, Bernie Hughes, Pete Ridges and others.  When the list was published in book format there were 2987 Humps listed with their criteria being any British hill that has 100m or more of drop, accompanying the main list is a sub category entitled Subhumps, with the criteria being any British hill that has 90m or more and below 100m of drop.

More Relative Hills of Britain by Mark Jackson

The details for the reclassification appear below:

There has been a reclassification to the listing of the Humps (HUndred Metre Prominences) instigated by a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 which took place on the 18.05.14.

Mark Jackson had originally listed this hill with c 65m of drop based on the 529m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated bwlch height of c 464m based on bwlch contouring at 10m intervals.  This hill was listed as a non-prioritised Twin Hump along with two other 529m summit spot heighted hills which are positioned at SN 765 926 (previously listed as prioritised Twin Hump) and SN 765 920 (previously listed as non-prioritised Twin Hump).  In November 2012 its drop value was amended to 68m due to the 461m bwlch spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website.  Therefore, prior to the survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 this hill was listed as a non-prioritised Twin Hump.  

    

When Mark Jackson originally listed this hill it appeared under the name of Moel Hyddgen which is the name that it appeared by in the Dewey listing, and which is an invented name partly based on the name of the stream valley to the south of the hill.  This hill and its two adjacent 529m map heighted summits were surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 and the details relating to this hill were submitted under the name of Pen y Darren which appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map close to this hill’s summit and which is also the name that some of the local sheep grazers know the hill by.

The hill is adjoined to the Pumlumon group of hills and is situated between the A 489 road to the north and the A 44 road to the south, and is positioned between the town of Machynlleth towards the north and the small community of Ffwrnais (Furnace) towards the west.

This hill and its adjacent twin map heighted summits were surveyed using a Trimble GeoXH 6000 by Myrddyn Phillips on the 18.05.14 resulting in a 529.4m (converted to OSGM15) summit height, which proved higher than the 528.7m (converted to OSGM15) summit at SN 765 926 and the 528.3m (converted to OSGM15) summit at SN 765 920, with this survey confirming this hill’s reclassification from non-prioritised Twin Hump to Hump status with 105m of drop.

The reclassification of this hill from non-prioritised Twin Hump to Hump status was accepted by Mark Jackson and its new classification augmented in to the listing of the Humps on 22.09.14.

Gathering data with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 at one of two mounds on the summit area of Pen y Darren

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Pen y Darren

Summit Height:  529.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

OS 1:25,000 map:  23, 215

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 76435 94301 (as listed in the Humps)

Drop:  105m (as listed in the Humps)

Myrddyn Phillips (October 2017)