Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Yr Uchafion and 500m Twmpau

Grug Crofftau (SN 750 612)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Yr Uchafion and 500m Twmpau, with the summit height, drop and status of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 25^th June 2018, with the position of the bwlch having been ascertained from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams.

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

Yr Uchafion – Welsh hills at or above 500m in height that have 15m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, with the Introduction to this list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 4^th November 2015.

500m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 500m and below 600m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub category entitled the 500m Sub-Twmpau consisting of all Welsh hills at or above 500m and below 600m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  With the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips.

The hill is situated in the Elenydd group of hills which are placed in the Mid and West Wales Region (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned in relatively remote land for Wales and has the small community of Pontrhydfendigaid towards the north north-west and Tregaron towards the west south-west.

Heading toward the summit of Grug Crofftau (SN 750 612)

When this hill was first included in the listings that later became known as Yr Uchafion and the 500m Twmpau it was listed by the name of Pen Llyn Crugnant, with an accompanying note stating; Named from lake to the East.

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 or as in this instance, use the name of a near lake and prefix it with the word Pen.  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now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and it was only towards the end of the compilation of the Yr Uchafion list that place-name enquiries were made with local farmers, grazers and landowners.

One of the local farmers contacted in this area shepherds the land above Tyncwm (SN 770 655) and gave the name of Grug Crofftau for this hill when a detailed description of its position was given, the farmer in question is local to the area and has worked this land since 1961.  Another local farmer who when contacted was aged 80, having lived at Crofftau (SN 750 644) and shepherding the hills above this farm for 25 years knew the hill as Grug, explaining that it is the highest part of land associated with the farm of Crofftau.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Yr Uchafion and the 500m Twmpau is Grug Crofftau and this was derived from local enquiry.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Elenydd

Name:  Grug Crofftau

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Llyn Crugnant

Summit Height:  533.3m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  146, 147

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 75031 61257

Drop:  29.0m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (October 2018)