Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

Cefn Coed (SN 695 258)

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

LIDAR summit image of Cefn Coed (SN 695 258)

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 Y Mynydd Du group of hills, which are situated in the north-western part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C1), and it is encircled by minor roads with the Afon Tywi (River Towy) and the A40 road to its north-west and the Afon Sawdde and the A4069 road to its north-east, and has the village of Llangadog towards the north north-east.

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under a partly invented and transposed name of Long Wood Top, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the North. 

Long Wood Top

131m

SN695259

146/160

12

Trig pillar. Name from wood to the North.

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 transpose the name of a wood and add the word Top to it.  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 668 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 apportionments for this area have not yet been transcribed, however the land where the summit of this hill is situated is named on the Tithe map as Cefen [sic] Coed, and according to the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps this is also the name of the adjacent farm which is situated to the north north-east of this hill’s summit and which is now named as Bryn-Towy on contemporary maps.

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

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Y Mynydd Du

Name:  Cefn Coed

Previously Listed Name:  Long Wood Top

  

OS 1:50,000 map:  146, 160

Summit Height:  130.9m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 69518 25873 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  88.1m (LIDAR, natural bwlch)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 70700 25824 (LIDAR, natural bwlch)

 

Drop:  42.8m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2019)