Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales

Craig yr Aderyn (SH 647 065)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, drop and Dominance of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 14^th May 2018.

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

200m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum 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.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those addition Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is 33% or more and below 50% 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 is positioned between two river valleys with the Afon Dysynni to its north-west and the Afon Fathew to its south, and has the small community of Abertrinant towards its south-west and Abergynolwyn towards the east. 

Craig yr Aderyn (SH 647 065) with Cadair Idris in the background

The hill appeared in the 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the directional name of Craig yr Aderyn South-East Top with an accompanying note stating; Name from hill to the North-West, and later appeared in the Dominant list under the point (Pt. 258m) notation.   

Craig yr Aderyn South-East Top

258m

SH647066

124

23

Name from hill to the North-West

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.  On occasion I also used a directional name based on supplanting the name of a near hill and adding a directional component to the name.  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 historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

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

When visiting this and adjoining hills I met a number of local farmers, including Joanne Redman on the summit of Coed Uchaf (SH 649 055), Joanne was on her quad bike taking photos of her father’s farm of Nant-y-mynach (SH 644 048), we talked about this and other hills and Joanne suggested that I should contact her father; Tomos Lewis, whose telephone number she kindly gave me.

The following day I contacted Tomos and two days later then visited him, Tomos is aged 60 and a Welsh speaker, and has lived at Nant-y-mynach for 54 years, having moved there from the council houses in Abertrinant when aged six.  During our conversations Tomos proved very knowledgeable and gave me many hill names that do not appear on any Ordnance Survey map, and one of them was the name of this hill, which Tomos called Bird’s Rock, we then concentrated on the four individual prominence hills which are all positioned close to one another and in the vicinity of the hill named Bird’s Rock / Craig yr Aderyn on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, and Tomos was of the opinion that the two main hills are both a part of the overall hill known as Craig yr Aderyn.

Tomos Lewis of Nant-y-mynach

During the conversation with Tomos I mentioned that I planned to call at Gesail (SH 641 063) which is the farm directly under this hill to its south-west and Tomos told me that the farmer is named Dafydd Jones.

When I visited Gesail, Dafydd and his son were busy in a large barn spraying sheep, we went outside to talk about the hills that from this vantage point rose directly above the farm, and Dafydd explained that although he had only lived at this farm for a few years his family are local to the area and that he knows all the hills above his farm as a part of Bird’s Rock.  

Dafydd Jones and son of Gesail

As a directional name only adds an invented component to the name of the hill, this is dispensed with in favour of the name that is in use locally, with the caveat that the Welsh name for this hill is prioritised over its English equivalent, which for listing purposes is standard practice.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Craig yr Aderyn, and the hills known by this name were derived from local enquiry. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Tarennydd

Name:  Craig yr Aderyn

 

Previously Listed Name:  Craig yr Aderyn South-East Top 

Summit Height:  257.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 64703 06582 

 

Drop:  86.4m (converted to OSGM15)

Dominance:  33.56%

 

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Craig yr Aderyn (SH 647 065)

For details on the survey of Craig yr Aderyn

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)