Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Tumps

Tumps – Significant Name Changes

The Tumps (thirty & upward metre prominences) are all hills in Britain that have a minimum drop of 30m, irrespective of their height.  The list was collated by Mark Jackson and was reliant upon the duplication of many other lists that already existed such as the accumulated listings of the Simms, Deweys, Donald Deweys, Highland Fives, Y Pedwarau, The Fours and Y Trichant, and the posts that have appeared on Mapping Mountains detailing the recommended significant name changes specifically for this list appear below presented chronologically in receding order.

Mapping Mountains - Significant Name Changes - Tumps

Wincobank Hill (SK 377 910) - recommended name change from Wincobank (2nd recommended significant name change)

Survey post for Wincobank Hill

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Tumps, with the summit and col height, their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

The information board at the start of the north-eastern ascent of Wincobank Hill

The criterion for the list that this name change affects is:

Tumps – All British hills with 30m or more of drop.

The list was duplicated, compiled and collated by Mark Jackson and first published in 2009, with the word Tump being an acronym meaning Thirty & Upward Metre Prominences.

The hill is situated in Region 36 Lancashire, Cheshire and Southern Pennines and adjoined to the Bleaklow Head group of hills.  The hill is enclosed by the city of Sheffield and major roads, with the M1 motorway to the north-east, the A6135 to the west, the A6102 to the south and the A6109 to the east.

This hill was listed in the Tumps under the name of Wincobank, which is a name that is prominent near the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps.  When compiling hill lists authors are prone to use a name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, without much consideration for its local or historic confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

With time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historic documents, through this form of research the locally known name for the hill or the land where the summit of the hill is situated can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was local enquiry, online research and the information board at the start of the ascent of the hill from the north-east that all named the hill as Wincobabk Hill.

I asked Tracy Pidd Smith; a local resident of Wincobank who has lived all of her life in Sheffield, whether the hill is known by a name, she replied Wincobank Hill, with the name of Wincobank now applied to the district rather than just the hill itself.

Online research revealed a number of sites naming the hill as Wincobank Hill, including the Friends of Wincobank Hill website, which gives a number of details relating to the hill.

Extract from the Friends of Wincobank Hill website

Lastly, an information board at the beginning of the north-eastern ascent of the hill gives the name of the hill as Wincobank Hill.

Therefore, as the hill is known locally as Wincobank Hill, and this name is substantiated in a number of online sources and on an information board at the beginning of the main ascent of the hill, the recommendation is that the listed name used in the Tumps is changed to Wincobank Hill. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Bleaklow Head

Recommended Name:  Wincobank Hill

Current Listed Name:  Wincobank 

OS 1:50,000 map:  110, 111

Summit Height:  161.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SK 37770 91011 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  122.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 37574 91286 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

 

Drop:  39.1m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 col)

For details on the survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2019)

Mapping Mountains - Significant Name Changes - Tumps

The Firs (SO 599 573) - recommended name change from Grendon Green (1st recommended significant name change)

Survey post for this hill

There has been a recommendation of a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Tumps, with the height of the hill confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips and which took place on the 30^th January 2018 in good dry conditions, with no breeze and clear visibility.

The criterion for the list that this recommendation affects is:

Tumps – All British hills with 30m or more of drop.

The list was duplicated, compiled and collated by Mark Jackson and first published in 2009, with the word Tump being an acronym meaning Thirty & Upward Metre Prominences.

The hill is situated in West Gloucestershire, Hereford & Worcester and is placed in Region 38 Welsh Borders, Section 38B with its Parent Hill being Hegdon Hill (SO 585 539).  The hill is positioned above the A 44 road which is to its south, and has the town of Bromyard toward its south-east and the city of Worcester towards its east.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data from the high point of bounded land known as The Firs

This hill is listed in the Tumps under the name of Grendon Green, which is a name that is prominent near the summit of this hill on Ordnance Survey maps.  When compiling hill lists authors are prone to use a name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, without much consideration for its local or historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

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 the locally known name for the hill or the land where the summit of the hill is situated can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was the local farmer who gave the name of The Firs for the bounded land where the summit of this hill is situated.

The local farmer is Mary Whitfield Jones who farms from Batchley which is further down the track to the north-east of where the summit of this hill is positioned.  I met Mary whilst surveying this hill as she walked up the track from her farm, she was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable and immediately approached me and said; ‘oh you’re another one, I had one over a while ago, like buses you are, I expect you’re looking for the trig pillar, it’s over there buried in the undergrowth, come with me I’ll show you where it is.’  I thanked her for offering to take me to the trig, but explained my interest lay in surveying the high point of this hill and also in its name.

Mary Whitfield Jones

Once Mary realised I had little interest in the trig pillar we concentrated on the name of the hill, she told me that the actual hill had no name, or at least she did not know of one, I asked about the name of Grendon Green, she explained that this is strictly applicable to the land at the end of the track where it forms a T-junction with the A 44 road, and that the end house is named Grendon and that it’s a little disappointing as there isn’t even a triangle of green to lay claim to the name.

I then asked Mary if the bounded land where the Trimble was placed had a name, she told me that it is known as The Firs, by this stage she’d also told me that she had lived at the farm for 42 years and was born and bred in Herefordshire.  I asked about the name of The Firs, Mary explained that the land between the two grazing fields to the west and the east once had conifers on it and that’s why it is known as The Firs, she suggested I should look on the Tithe map (which I do, but mainly for Welsh hills), I then asked her about the two adjacent fields and she said that the field to the west is known as The Harps and the field to the east is known as the Front Meadow.

Therefore, as the person who owns the land where the summit of this hill is situated considers the name of Grendon Green to apply to a small area of land at the T-junction where the track and the A44 road meet, which is beside the house that is named Grendon, and that the bounded land where the data produced by surveying with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 was gathered from is known as The Firs, the recommendation is that the listed name of this hill in the Tumps is changed to The Firs.  With the caveat that if higher ground is situated in the adjacent field to the east of the track the listed name of the hill would then be the Front Meadow.

The full details for the hill are:

Parent Hill:  Hegdon Hill

Recommended Name:  The Firs

Current Listed Name:  Grendon Green 

Summit Height:  253.6m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  149

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 59900 57311

Drop:  c 41m

For details on the survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2018)