Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant

Seven Valleys (SH 874 151)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant, with the summit height and drop being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 21^st May 2018.

The criteria for the listing 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.

The hill is adjoined to the Y Berwyn range of hills which are situated in the south-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A4), and it is positioned between the stream valleys of the Afon Dyfi (River Dovey) to its north and the Nant Cwm Cewydd to its south-east, and has the small town of Dinas Mawddwy to the west. 

Seven Valleys (SH 874 151)

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Cytir, which is a name that appears close to this hill’s summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.  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. 

Cytir

341m

SH874152

124/125

23

When visiting this hill I was fortunate to speak with two local farmers, and the first to give me the name of Seven Valleys was Ieuan Davies who was in his tractor turning the ground in preparation for seeding the field adjacent to where the summit of Cefn Coch (SH 868 142) is positioned.  Ieuan is now aged 81 and is a Welsh speaker and farms from Llwyn-y-grug (SH 841 159).  Ieuan explained that Cytir is the common land further along on the left hand side and that it was good for nothing and full of bracken, this is the open access land shown on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps with its high point not taking in the summit of this hill.

Ieuan Davies

Descending from Cefn Coch I then met Carwyn Pugh at the old ruin of Bwlch Cwm Cewydd (SH 870 146), he had gathered sheep from the hill this article details and was penning them, Carwyn is aged 26 and a Welsh speaker and farms from near Llanymawddwy.  Carwyn gave me the name of Cefn Coch for the hill I had just visited and told me that the hill I was heading to is known as Seven Valleys.  We talked about this name at length and Carwyn said that you can’t see the seven valleys from the summit any longer because of the thin strip of conifer plantation just to the south of the summit, which he thought was put there about 20 years ago.  I said it was unusual that an English name was used for the hill considering it’s in a Welsh speaking area and he surmised that it was probably given by an English speaker and that the name had stuck in the local community.

Carwyn Pugh penning the sheep

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant is Seven Valleys, and this was derived from local enquiry.

 

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data from the summit of Seven Valleys

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Y Berwyn

Name:  Seven Valleys

Previously Listed Name:  Cytir

Summit Height:  340.5m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  124, 125

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 87419 15168

Drop:  52.7m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Seven Valleys

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)

Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours

Crow Knoll (SD 960 105)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in The Fours, with this being announced when the 2^nd edition of The Fours was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24^th April 2018.

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

The Fours – English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  Accompanying the main list of The Fours are three categories of sub hills, with this hill being classified in the 390m Double Sub-Four category.  The criteria for 390m Double Sub-Four status are all English hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.

The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, with the 1^st edition of the list having been published by Europeaklist in December 2013 and by Haroldstreet in January 2014, with the 2^nd edition of the list published by Mapping Mountains Publications and by Haroldstreet on the 24^th April 2018.

The hill is situated in the Southern Pennines and is placed in Region 36 with its Cardinal Hill being Way Stone Edge (SD 997 140).  The hill is positioned with the A 640 road to its north, the A 663 road to its west and the A 672 road to its south-east, and has the village of Denshaw to the east and the town of Shaw to the south-west.

This hill was not included in the listing that is now known as The Fours when originally compiled as it did not at that stage include a sub-list to the hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height.  Subsequently the hill was listed as Crow Knowl in the 1^st edition of The Fours when the list was published by Europeaklist in December 2013. 

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

Hill list authors are prone to list a hill by the name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, with little consideration for its local or historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate, and research conducted by Aled concluded that Ordnance Survey have recorded this hill’s name as both Crow Knoll and Crow Knowl, with the latter being archaic.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours is Crow Knoll and this was derived from historic Ordnance Survey maps. 

The full details for the hill are:

Cardinal Hill:  Way Stone Edge

Name:  Crow Knoll

Previously Listed Name:  Crow Knowl 

Summit Height:  391m

OS 1:50,000 map:  109

Summit Grid Reference:  SD 960 105 

 

Drop:  c 20m

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2018)

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

Gewni (SM 796 236) – Dominant addition

There has been confirmation of an addition to the listing of Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales due to LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, with the criteria for this list being:

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales - Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.

This hill did not appear in the main P30 list or the accompanying Hills to be surveyed sub list when the original Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, as it was thought not to have 30m of drop and therefore was not considered for Dominant status.

Gewni (SM 796 236)

This hill was included as a P30 and a Dominant hill shortly after the Ordnance Survey Interactive Coverage Map became available on the Geograph website, and prior to LIDAR analysis it was listed with 35m of drop based on the 35m summit spot height that appears on this map.

The name of the hill is Gewni and it is a tidal island that is attached to mainland Wales at low tide.  The hill is adjoined to the Carn Llidi group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B4), with the island being positioned to the west of where the Afon Solfach (River Solva) enters the sea, and has the village of Solfach (Solva) towards its north-east.

If wanting to visit the hill it is a part of designated open access land, for those wishing to do so caution is advised as the easiest approach will probably necessitate some form of scramble.

The confirmation of the addition of Gewni to Dominant status is due to LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales. 

The 1m DTM LIDAR analysis gives the hill the following details:

Name:  Gewni

Summit Height:  35.7m

Summit Grid Reference:  SM 79696 23606

Bwlch Height:  0.3m

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SM 79689 23698

Drop:  35.3m

Dominance:  99.11%

LIDAR image of Gewni

Therefore, the 35.65m LIDAR analysis for the summit position at SM 79696 23606 and the 0.3m LIDAR analysis for the bwlch position at SM 79689 23698 gives this hill 35.3m of drop and 99.11% dominance, which is sufficient for Dominant status.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carn Llidi

Name:  Gewni

Dominance:  99.11% (LIDAR)

OS 1:50,000 map:  157

Summit Grid Reference:  SM 79696 23606 (LIDAR)

Summit Height:  35.7m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SM 79689 23698 (LIDAR)

Drop Summit to Bwlch:  35.3m (LIDAR)

Drop Bwlch to ODN:  0.3m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)

Upland Place-Names – Aled Williams Publishes Cilfaesty Research

An article entitled ‘Upland Place-Names in North-East Radnorshire: along the Montgomeryshire Fence’ concerning the place-names found along the border between Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire has been published by the Radnorshire Society, in their annual journal ‘The Transactions of the Radnorshire Society’.

Extract from the ‘Upland Place-Names in North-East Radnorshire: along the Montgomeryshire Fence’

The article is written by Aled Williams and is the culmination of local and historical research he has conducted in the area dominated by Cilfaesty, a 528m high hill recognised by hill walkers as being a Dewey, Uchaf, Dodd, Submarilyn and Hump.

Cilfaesty and Bryn Coch

The Radnorshire Society was established in 1930 with the intention to document the archaeology and history of the historic county of Radnorshire, which now forms a part of Powys.  The Society has an archive and library and organises excursions and public lectures, and as well as the annual journal, the ‘Transactions’, an illustrated newsletter through the Field Section of the Society is also published.

The Transactions are published in a bound volume and incorporate academic research and archive material in what is considered to be the county’s pre-eminent scholarly publication.  This journal is held in high regard by the scholarly community, as evidenced by volumes 1 - 74 (1931 -2004) having been made freely available via ‘Welsh Journals Online’, a site hosted by the National Library of Wales.

As a native of Porthmadog, Aled’s research originally concentrated on his local area of Eryri, but this soon expanded to the whole of Wales. During this research a select few areas received intense research, both on a local level with farmers, landowners, shepherds, gamekeepers, local historians and academics being contacted and on an historical level with Ordnance Survey maps, tithe maps, enclosure maps, estate maps and other historical documents all being analysed and catalogued.

Radnorshire holds special interest to a person researching place-names as it is one of the areas that forms the border country with England, and because of this many names have either been anglicised or cymricised. This provides a Welsh speaker like Aled a fascinating task of recording current pronunciations and deducing meanings. In fact, Aled’s extensive work on the nearby 547m high Radnorshire mountain of Beacon Hill was previously published by the Radnorshire Society in two parts and is also recommended for those with an interest in upland place-names: ‘Upland Place-Names in North-East Radnorshire: Beacon Hill’, with ‘Part 1’ appearing in the 2015 Transactions and ‘Part 2’ in the 2016 Transactions.

The research is presented with the name, grid reference, number of informants, documented sources and detailed exoplanetary text, with each name and its relevant detail appearing in the same systematic way, and forms a current day comprehensive catalogue of the upland place-names of the area taking in Cilfaesty.

The article has not yet been digitised but hard copy versions of the Transactions may be available to purchase via the Radnorshire Society’s library. For further information visit: 
http://radnorshiresociety.org/transactions/

Mapping Mountains – Significant Height Revisions – 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Fegla Fach (SH 638 153)

There has been a Significant Height Revision to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, drop, dominance and status of the hill confirmed by a combination of LIDAR analysis and a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

The criteria for the two listings that this significant height revision applies to are:

30-99m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height that have a minimum 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.

The name of the hill is Fegla Fach and it is adjoined to the Cadair Idris group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), with the hill being positioned between the Afon Mawddach to its north-west and the A 493 road to its south-east, and has the village of Y Friog (Fairbourne) to the south-west.  

As the hill is not a part of designated open access land permission to visit should be sought, for those wishing to do so access to its summit can be found from the confines of a camp site which is situated at the base of the hill to its south-west.

Prior to LIDAR analysis and the Trimble survey this hill was listed with 25m of drop based on the 28m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 3m bwlch spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey Interactive Coverage Map hosted on the Geograph website.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Interactive Coverage Map hosted on the Geograph website

The summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 31.5m, this is not a dramatic height revision when compared to some revised heights, but it does come within the parameters of the Significant Height Revisions used within this page heading, these parameters are:

LIDAR image of Fegla Fach (top right of photograph) and showing the Arthog bog

The term Significant Height Revisions applies to any listed hill whose interpolated height and Ordnance Survey or Harvey map summit spot height has a 2m or more discrepancy when compared to the survey result produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000 or analysis of data produced via LIDAR, also included are hills whose summit map data is missing an uppermost ring contour when compared to the data produced by the Trimble or by LIDAR analysis.  As heights on different scaled Ordnance Survey maps are not consistent the height given on the 1:25,000 Explorer map is being prioritised in favour of the 1:50,000 Landranger map for detailing these revisions.

Therefore, this hill’s new summit height is 31.5 and this was produced by LIDAR analysis, this is 3.5m higher than its previously listed height of 28m which appears as a spot height on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cadair Idris

Summit Height (New Height):  31.5m (LIDAR)

Name:  Fegla Fach

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 63818 15311 (LIDAR)   

Drop:  30.0m (LIDAR summit and Trimble bwlch)

Dominance:  95.37% (LIDAR summit and Trimble bwlch)

The summit of Fegla Fach (SH 638 153)

For details on the survey and on-site visit that significantly revised the summit height of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Arenig

05.06.18  Ffridd y Fedw (SH 830 459) and Pen Ffridd Sarn (SH 840 464)

Ffridd y Fedw (SH 830 459)

The Y Migneint is a large expanse of moorland stretching for many miles taking in the higher summits of the Arenig, it comprises grassland, heather and bog and has a beauty all to itself, where a tranquillity descends upon its land, that except for a farmer and occasional hill walker must be seldom visited.  It was in to this land that we ventured this evening, which proved idyllic with a setting sun and hardly a breath of breeze, as when rain sweeps in and mist descends it would not be a land I would chose to visit.

I met Mark and Aled in Betws-y-coed where we sat outside the Royal Oak Hotel with an evening meal and catching up with conversation.  Afterward we each drove to Ysbyty Ifan, leaving two cars in the village car park and taking the third further up the valley.

We had two hills on our planned agenda; Ffridd y Fedw and Pen Ffridd Sarn, both are Pedwarau, and according to the 5m contours on OS Maps the former is more of a marginal than its estimated c 33m of listed drop implies.

A green track led across fields down toward a wooden foot bridge that spans the enclosed gorge containing the infant Afon Conwy, ahead were a number of hills, each with elongated and rounded summit ridges, and all shimmered in summer lushness where grassland predominated amongst the black oozing bog of the Y Migneint.

The foot bridge passing over the small gorge

The green track soon disappeared and we headed for a gate giving access on to a better track that led down to stepping stones across one of the tributaries of the Afon Conwy.  Our first hill of the evening; Ffridd y Fedw, looked a long way away and its summit seemed forever unobtainable, but I put my head down and picked out a sheep path amongst the grassland and heather that led past, but also toward many bogs, eventually drier ground was found on the hill’s upper slopes, and in time, as always, the summit was reached.

Mark negotiating the stepping stones whilst crossing one of the tributaries of the Afon Conwy

The expanse of the Y Migneint

As Mark and Aled lay in the evening sun looking across to Carnedd y Filiast and Arenig Fach with the dimmed silhouette of Arenig Fawr in the distance, I set the Trimble up and left it to gather data.

Gathering data at the summit of Ffridd y Fedw

Once the Trimble was packed away we headed down to the connecting bwlch were a tee junction of fences indicated the critical bwlch of Ffridd y Fedw lay.  This land was quiet except for the occasional white speck of a grazing sheep and the haunting call of the Curlew; the latter is sadly becoming more a rarity on the British uplands.

Pern Ffridd Sarn and the connecting bwlch between the two hills

The bwlch had two distinct drainage ditches that resembled infant streams, each setting off in opposite directions, the three of us scrutinized this bwlch for a number of minutes and two data sets were decided on, one from where the fence crosses the bwlch and another on its northerly side.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Ffridd y Fedw

As data were gathered Mark and Aled made their way toward the top of Pen Ffridd Sarn, leaving me and the Trimble at the bwlch.  The land then became becalmed in the evening stillness with the cool of the day overtaking its warmth.  There is a tenderness to these moors, a stillness, an age old land where few tread, it is wondrous, and was enhanced on such an evening as this, as by the time I reached the summit of Pen Ffridd Sarn the sinking sun was playing colours against the high Glyderau where Tryfan and its jagged profile shone out against the myriad of sky colour.

My friends quickly abandoned me to my fate on the summit of Pen Frridd Sarn and I spent my time quietly talking to an inquisitive herd of Welsh Blacks who seemed intent on investigating the Trimble as it gathered its customary summit data set. 

Whilst the Trimble gathers data a stand off seems to have developed.  Photo:  Aled Williams

This proved a friendly stand off as I slowly and gently inched forward and the herd of cows slowly inched backward.  Once five minutes of data were gathered I quickly turned and headed toward the Trimble and closed it off.

Switching the Trimble off as the Welsh Blacks approach.  Photo: Aled Williams

The sun setting beyond the distinctive profile of Tryfan

Looking back the Welsh Blacks had been joined by a bigger beast, although it looked docile enough I did not want to test its stand-off ability, or my own again, and therefore quickly bi-passed them on my way down to join Mark and Aled who were close to the track that would, in time, lead us back to Ysbyty Ifan.  The walk, company and hills proved an ideal way to spend such a beautiful evening.    

Survey Result:

Fridd y Fedw

Summit Height:  432.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 83031 45946

Bwlch Height:  400.3m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 83424 46066 (LIDAR)

Drop:  32.3m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  7.46% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Pen Ffridd Sarn

Summit Height:  441.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 84020 46488

Bwlch Height:  361.5m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 84080 45710 (LIDAR)

Drop:  79.7m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  18.07% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet