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

West Park (SR 940 990)

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 height, drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

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 33.33% or more and below 50% of their absolute height, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Brandy Hill group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B4), and is positioned between the B roads of the 4320 to the north and the 4319 to the south, and has the town of Penfro (Pembroke) towards the north-east.

The hill originally appeared in the 30-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Axton Hill, which is a name that consistently appears on Ordnance Survey maps beside a minor road to the south-west of the summit and not necessarily applicable to the hill itself.

Axton Hill

80c

SR941990

158

36

Hill list authors are prone to list a hill by the name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, without much consideration for its local or historical confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate.  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 historical 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 451 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 West Park in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Moncton and in the county named as Pembroke.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau is West Park, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Brandy Hill

Name:  West Park

Previously Listed Name:  Axton Hill 

Summit Height:  81.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SR 94023 99001 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  51.3m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SR 94747 99655 (LIDAR)

Drop:  30.4m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  37.19%

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2018)