Significant Name Changes - Y Trichant and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales

Foel Cocyn (SH 624 042)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH survey which took place on the 14^th May 2018, and the drop of the hill being confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

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

Y Trichant – Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips and the Introduction to the list and the re-naming and publication history of it was published on Mapping Mountains on the 13^th May 2017.

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Tarennydd range of hills which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it overlooks the B 4405 road and the Afon Fathew to the south-east and the Afon Dysynni to the north-west, and has the small community of Dolgoch to its east and Bryn-crug to its south-west. 

Foel Cocyn (SH 624 042)

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Ffridd Cocyn.  During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on the 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 either inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate, and although the name of Ffridd Cocyn has been consistently presented on Ordnance Survey maps, it was enquiries with a number of local farmers who gave the name of Foel Cocyn for this hill. 

Ffridd Cocyn

313m

SH625043

135

23

Marilyn. Clem/Yeaman.

When visiting this and adjacent hills I was fortunate to speak with a number of local farmers including Edward Cook of Perfeddnant (SH 628 055), who I met on the upper slopes of this hill, Edward was out on his quad bike with a colleague and two sheep dogs and I was surprised when he gave me the name of Foel Cocyn for this hill as I had accepted the map name for many years.  I asked if this should be Ffridd Cocyn and Edward replied ‘no, I know it as Foel Cocyn’.

Edward Cook of Perfeddnant

I descended from this small grouping of hills to Llanerch-goediog (SH 640 050) and met Stephen Jones who has lived at this farm all of his life outside of three years he spent at university.  When asked about this hill Stephen said that it’s known as Cocyn, he later referred to it as Foel Cocyn, I again asked if this should be Ffridd Cocyn, and was told that it’s a foel.

Stephen Jones of Llanerch-goediog

My route continued north-east from Stephen’s farm and I was fortunate to meet Joanne Redman at the summit of the next hill, she helped me with its name which will be documented in a forthcoming Significant Name Changes post, and suggested that I should contact her father; Tomos Lewis who lives and farms from Nant-y-mynach (SH 644 048), she then kindly gave me his telephone number.

The following day I phoned Tomos and two days later then visited him.  Tomos has lived in this area all of his life having been brought up in one of the council houses in Abertrinant and has lived at Nant-y-mynach since the age of six.  He gave me the name of Foel Cocyn for this hill during our telephone conversation and later confirmed this name when we met, I asked about the name of Ffridd Cocyn and he said that ‘we’ve always known the top as Foel Cocyn’.  

Tomos Lewis of Nant-y-mynach

The term ffridd is usually given to land that is enclosed and is lower than the mountain, or mynydd land adjoined to a farm, both are associated with the cynefin naming system, details relating to these are given below:

Many Welsh hills comprise bounded land that is separated either by a fence or wall; these boundaries indicate land that is adjoined to different owners or tenants.  These land boundaries have usually been in place for centuries and in the uplands of Wales they are referred to as the cynefin, or sheep-walk in English.

The sheep-walk is an English term given to enclosed land that is apportioned to a specific farm.  The Welsh term for this land is cynefin, which can be literally translated as habitat, as in that for the sheep.  The cynefin usually takes in land that is known as the mountain land of the specific farm, therefore the name given to this enclosed land is usually that of the name of the farm prefixed with the word mynydd (mountain), this land is usually given over for sheep grazing, hence the term sheep-walk.  When Ordnance Survey maps are examined one can find many examples where this form of cynefin naming system exists, with farms situated in valley’s having their name given to high mountain land and prefixed with the word mynydd.

The bounded land given over to specific farms also takes in middle ground between the higher mountain land and the lower pasture land of the valley, this is known in Welsh as the ffridd and can take in a variety of habitats including heath, moor, grassland, woodland and high pasture.  Again, when Ordnance Survey maps are examined one can find many examples of names prefixed with the word Ffridd, and its apportionment to a specific hill is dependent upon where the bounded land is situated and referring to the Tithe maps for confirmation is then advised.

It is the cynefin naming system that usually results in a hill being known by different names in opposing valleys, as in many instances the upper bounded land meet at the watershed on top of the summit ridge and therefore the same hill would be known by two different names, each name a part of a different farm’s cynefin.

When visiting these farmers I asked if there was a farm named Cocyn in the area which would substantiate the use of the word ffridd in relation to this hill, and was told there wasn’t, with Edward Cook telling me that the word cocyn refers to the small hummocks on the side of the hill. 

Although the name of Ffridd Cocyn has been consistently given on Ordnance Survey maps in relation to this hill, it seems this name is either no longer used in the local community or it was never used and that the transcript of this hill’s name was incorrectly given by Ordnance Survey as Ffridd instead of Foel.

Even if the name of Ffridd Cocyn was once used locally, this would refer to enclosed land incorporating a field, whereas the name of Foel Cocyn refers to the hill and not necessarily to just an enclosed field.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant and in Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Foel Cocyn, and this was derived from local enquiry.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Tarennydd

Name:  Foel Cocyn

Previously Listed Name:  Ffridd Cocyn

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

Summit Height:  312.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 62455 04290 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  62.5m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 67118 06459 (LIDAR)

Drop:  250.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  80.04% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For details on the survey of Foel Cocyn

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2018)