Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau

Waun Sidan (SO 250 726)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau, with the summit height, drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams and subsequently confirmed by a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 which took place on the 19^th April 2018.

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

Y Pedwarau – 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 adjoined to the Beacon Hill range of hills, which are situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and is positioned between the B4355 road to the north-east and the A488 road to the south-east, and has the small town of Tref-y-clawdd (Knighton) to the east.

Waun Sidan (SO 250 726)

The hill appeared in the 400m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the partly invented name of Downes’s Dingle Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Name from dingle to the South. 

Downes's Dingle Hill

406m

SO250726

137/148

201

Name from dingle to the South.

During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to either invent a name for a hill, or use a name that appeared near to the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  My preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance, use the name of a dingle and add the word Hill.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

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 Interactive Coverage 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 Waun Sidan.

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 from 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 Waun Sidan, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Beacon Hill

Name:  Waun Sidan

Previously Listed Name:  Downes’s Dingle Hill

Summit Height:  407.8m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  137, 148

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 25022 72649

Drop:  31.5m (converted to OSGM15)

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Waun Sidan (SO 250 726)

For details on the survey of Waun Sidan

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (May 2018)