Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau

Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau, with the summit height and its position being confirmed by a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 which was conducted on the 15^th February 2018.

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

Y Pedwarau – These are the Welsh hills at and above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, with the introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of the list appearing on the 30^th January 2017.

The hill is a part of the Maelienydd range, this group of hills is situated in the eastern part of Mid and West Wales and are also known as the Beacon Hill range, with the hill being encircled by a number of minor roads with the B 4365 to its west and has the small town of Trefyclo (Knighton) towards the north.

Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

The hill appeared in the 400m P30 list on Geoff Crwder’s v-g.me website under the name of Llan-wen Hill North-East Top, with the name of Llan-wen Hill appearing adjacent to a track 1km to the south-west of the listed summit on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps of the day.  

Llan-wen Hill North-East Top

417m

SO305699

137/148

201

Trig pillar at second top of same height: SO307702. Name from hill to the South-West.

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.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are inappropriate, and supplanting the name Llan-wen Hill and adding a directional element to it, is such an example, as this name has been consistently applied on Ordnance Survey maps to a 404m map heighted hill positioned at SO 296 694 to the south-west of, and separate from, the hill this article relates to. 

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

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historical such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the enlarged map hosted on the Geograph website.  Two of the historical maps now available are the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it was the former of these maps that name the hill as Farrington Bank.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Survey’s surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced for these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau is Farrington Bank and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Beacon Hill

Name:  Farrington Bank

Previously Listed Name:  Lan-wen Hill North-East Top

Summit Height:  416.7m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  137, 148

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 30500 69937

Drop:  c 123m

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

For details on the survey of Farrington Bank

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (March 2018)