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

Cae Felin Wynt (SS 683 954)

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 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Cae Felin Wynt

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 Fforest Fawr group of hills, which are situated in the western part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C2), and it is positioned with the B5444 and the A4217 roads to its west and the Crymlyn Bog to its east, and has the city of Abertawe (Swansea) towards the west south-west.

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Cefn Hengoed, which is a name that appears close to the summit of this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.

Cefn Hengoed

117m

SS685956

159

165

Trig pillar at 685956. Two points of same height - other at SS681955.

During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on the map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are either inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate.  And as I have been unable to substantiate the name of Cefn Hengoed for that of the hill I examined the Tithe map.

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 1115 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 felin wynt in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llansamlet and in the county named as Glamorgan.

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 Felin Wynt, and this name was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Fforest Fawr

Name:  Cae Felin Wynt

Previously Listed Name:  Cefn Hengoed  

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Height:  118.9m (LIDAR, natural ground)

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 68320 95490 (LIDAR, natural ground)

Bwlch Height:  74.2m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SS 67837 95105 (LIDAR)

Drop:  44.7m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  37.57% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2019)