Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

Five Acres (SS 537 932)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau, with the summit height, drop and status of the hill being confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Five Acres

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

100m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 100m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m 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.

The hill is adjoined to the Gŵyr group of hills, which are situated in the western part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C1), and it is positioned between the B roads of the 4295 to the north-west and 4271 to the south, and has the village of Pen-clawdd towards the north.

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the directional name of Mynydd-Bach-y-Cocs West Top with an accompanying note stating; Name from hill to the East.

 

Mynydd-Bach-y-Cocs West Top

125c

SS538933

159

164

Name from hill 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 a directional name based on what I presumed was a separate named hill to the east.  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 1:50,000 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 330 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 Five Acres in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanrhidian and in the county named as Glamorgan.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Five Acres, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Gŵyr

Name:  Five Acres

Previously Listed Name:  Mynydd-Bach-y-Cocs West Top

  

Summit Height:  125.1m (LIDAR)

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 53779 93281 and SS 53779 93291 and SS 53774 93296 and SS 53780 93297 (LIDAR, natural summit) (LIDAR gives a 125.2m high raised field boundary positioned at SS 53791 93318 which is considered a relatively recent man-made construct) 

Drop:  40.8m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2018)