Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours - The 400m Hills of England

Cwm Sannam Hill (SO 270 755)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England, with the summit height, col height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillipsa and Aled Williams.

 

The summit of Cwm Sannam Hill (SO 270 755)

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

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England.  English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are three categories of sub hills, these are the 400m Sub-Fours, the 390m Sub-Fours and the 390m Double Sub-Fours.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and the 2^nd edition of the booklet containing this list was published by Mapping Mountains Publications on the 24^th April 2018.

The Fours - The 400m Hills of England by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The hill is adjoined to the Cilfaesty group of hills, which are situated in the Welsh borders, and it is positioned with the B4355 road to its south-west and the A488 road to its east, and has the Offa’s Dyke long distance footpath passing over its summit, and the town of Trefyclo (Knighton) towards the south-east.

When the listing that is now known as The Fours - The 400m Hills of Engalnd was originally compiled this hill appeared under its map composition of Cwm-sanaham Hill.  This was also the composition it appeared as when the list was uploaded to the RHB Yahoo group file database with the caveat that a capital ‘S’ was used; Cwm-Sanaham Hill.  Subsequently the hill was listed as Cwm Sanaham Hill in the 1^st edition of the The Fours when the list was published by Europeaklist in December 2013. 

Extract from the 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 usage and historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate, and in the case of this hill it was research conducted by Aled Williams in to the documentation of the name of this hill coupled with its local pronunciation that concluded Cwm Sannam Hill to be the most appropriate composition for the name of this hill name.  With the following appearing in the Notes section to the listing of the The Fours - The 400m Hills of England published by Mapping Mountains Publications:

  

The name is related to that of the farm located at the southern foot of the hill, which has been recorded by the OS as Cwm Sanham (1816), Cwm Sannan (1833), Cwm Sanam (1884) and Cwm Sanaham (1904), with the current registered name of the farm being Cwm Sannum. Locally, the name is pronounced as "Cwm Sannam Hill".

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series'map

Therefore, the name composition this hill is now listed by in the The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Cwm Sannam Hill, and this was derived from research in to the documenting of the name of this hill, coupled with local pronunciation. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cilfaesty

Name:  Cwm Sannam Hill

Previously Listed Name:  Cwm Sanaham Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  137, 148

Summit Height:  409.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 27080 75511 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Height:  310.0m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 28540 75409 (LIDAR)  

Drop:  99.1m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR col)

For details on the survey of Cwm Sannam Hill

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2018)