Thursday 15 November 2018

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


Park Quarry (SN 428 120)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit and bwlch height and position confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Park Quarry

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

30-99m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 20m or more and below 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.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those addition Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is 33.3% or more and below 50% of their absolute height, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Sylen group of hills, which are situated in the western part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C1), and is positioned with the stream valley of the Gwendraeth Fach to the south and east, and the A 484 road to the west, and has the small town of Cydweli (Kidwelly) towards the south.

The hill originally appeared in the 30-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the invented name of Pen Ystrad-fawr with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South-West.



Pen Ystrad-fawr
93m
159
177/178
Name from buildings to the South-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.  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 Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

As the summit of this hill comprises bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe map.  The term Tithe map is generally given to a map of a Welsh or English parish or township and which was prepared after the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act.  This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods.  The Tithe maps gave names of owners and occupiers of land in each parish and importantly for place-name research they also included the name of enclosed land.  This enclosed land is usually based on a field system, however not every field is given a name, but many are and especially so in Wales.

Extract from the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 798 on the Tithe map, this can be cross referenced against the apportionments; it is these apportionments that give the name of the owner or occupier of the land as well as the name of the land.  The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Park Quarry in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llandefailog and in the county named as Carmarthen.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales is Park Quarry, and this was derived from the Tithe map.


The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Sylen

Name:  Park Quarry

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Ystrad-fawr 

Summit Height:  93.9m (LIDAR)

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 42853 12091 and SN 42859 12091 (LIDAR) 
 
Drop:  48.5m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  51.63%


Myrddyn Phillips (November 2018)



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