Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Cae Cwarre (SN 506 209) – Dominant reclassified to Lesser Dominant

There has been a reclassification to the listing of Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales which has resulted in this hill being reclassified to the Lesser Dominant list due to its drop value being amended.

LIDAR image of Cae Cwarre (SN 506 209)

The details relating to this hill’s reclassification as a Lesser Dominant are retrospective as it was originally included in the Dominant list with the date of 24.01.12 given to the completion of this segment of the list, but it was soon noted that it should be transferred to the Lesser Dominant list.

The criteria for inclusion to the Dominant list being those Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height, whilst the criteria for the Lesser Dominant list are those additional Welsh P30s whose prominence is 33% or more and below 50% of their absolute height.

During 2006 and 2007 the sub category of hills accompanying the Welsh P30 lists published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website were standardised and interpolated drop values also added, this hill was then listed with an estimated c 34m of drop based on its 68m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated bwlch height of c 34m, based on 10m bwlch contouring between 30m – 40m, with these values giving this hill 50.00% Dominance.

Within two months of this segment of the list being completed I was informed about the Ordnance Survey Interactive Coverage map hosted on the Geograph website, and as this map has 5m contour intervals for the area of this hill it meant that the hill’s drop value now altered, whereas it had been listed as c 34m based on an estimated bwlch height of c 34m, the bwlch contouring was now between 35m – 40m and the bwlch height estimated as c 37m, giving this hill c 31m of drop and 45.59% Dominance.

The name the hill is listed by is Cae Cwarre, with this name derived from the Tithe map and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Mallaen group of hills which are situated in the Region of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2).  The hill is positioned above the Afon Cothi to its west and the Afon Tywi (River Towy) to its south, and has the small community of Llanegwad to its east north-east.

As the hill is not a part of designated open access land permission to visit should be sought, for those wishing to do so the nearest public footpath leaves a minor lane just to the south of the summit.

The reclassification of Cae Cwarre to Lesser Dominant status was initially dependent upon the 5m contour intervals given on the Ordnance Survey Interactive Coverage Map hosted on the Geograph website, and subsequently confirmed via LIDAR analysis, resulting in a summit height of 70.9m and a bwlch height of 36.1m, with these values giving this hill 34.8m of drop and 49.04% dominance, which is sufficient for Lesser Dominant status.

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Mynydd Mallaen 

Name:  Cae Cwarre 

Dominance:  49.04% (LIDAR) 

OS 1:50,000 map:  159 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 50644 20918 (LIDAR) 

Summit Height:  70.9m (LIDAR) 

Drop Summit to Bwlch:  34.8m (LIDAR)

Drop Bwlch to ODN:  36.1m (LIDAR) 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2018)