Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Cae Alen (SH 781 758)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, its location, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis, and a subsequent summit survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, with the latter taking place on the 10^th October 2018.

Cae Alen (SH 781 758)

The criteria for the two listings 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.

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 additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Carneddau group of hills, which are situated in the north-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and it is positioned with the B5106 road to its west and the Afon Conwy (River Conwy) to its east, and has the town of Conwy towards its north.

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the directional name of Iolyn Park North East Top, with an accompanying note stating Name from camp site to the South-West.

Iolyn Park North East top

130m

SH781758

115

17

Name from camp site 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, or as in this instance use a directional name based on what I presumed was the name of a camp site toward the south-west.  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 79 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 Cae alen in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Gyffin and in the county named as Carnarvon [sic].

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cae Alen, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carneddau

Name:  Cae Alen

Previously Listed Name:  Iolyn Park North East Top 

OS 1:50,000 map:  115

Summit Height:  129.1m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 78116 75814

Bwlch Height:  34.8m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 77629 74003 (LIDAR)

 

Drop:  94.3m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  73.05% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For details of the summit survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2019)