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)