Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant

Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant, with the summit height, drop and highest summit of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 6^th September 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 adjoined to the Fforest Glud range, this group of hills is situated in the south-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and the hill is positioned between the two small communities of Frank’s Bridge to the east and Llansanffraid-yn-Elfael (Llansantffraed-in-Elwel) to the south south-west.

Gwernhwsmon Bank (SO 105 559)

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Hirllwyn Bank.  During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on a map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to and used many names that seemingly applied to a hill and whose placement was nearest the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are inappropriate.  This hill is one such example, and as it consists of bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe map.  

Hirllwyn Bank

357m

SO105559

148

200

Trig pillar

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 where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 251 on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 251 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 Bank on the Tithe map and described as Pasture, importantly the land is that adjoined to the farm of Gwernhwsmon, in affect it is the Bank of Gwernhwsmon, or simply put; Gwernhwsmon Bank; the details on the Tithe map appear in the county named as Radnor and in the parish of Llansanffraid-yn-Elfael.

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land is named Bank and is adjoined to Wernhusmon [sic]

When visiting this hill and its near neighbours I made several place-name enquiries, one of which was with Philip Dyke who was out on his quad bike on a field directly below this hill’s summit.  Philip is aged 62 and farms from Gwernfach having lived there for 57 years, with his family having lived in this area for hundreds of years, and he confirmed this hill’s name as Gwernhwsmon Bank, and that of its adjacent 354.3m (converted to OSGM15, 356m map height) summit as Bryn-glas Bank which also confirms information from the Tithe map.   

Therefore, the hill is now listed as Gwernhwsmon Bank in the Y Trichant, and this name was derived from the Tithe map and also confirmed locally.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Fforest Glud

Name:  Gwernhwsmon Bank 

Previously Listed Name:  Hirllwyn Bank 

Summit Height:  357.3m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  148

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 10538 55967  

Drop:  49.7m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Gwernhwsmon Bank  

Myrddyn Phillips (October 2017)