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

Coed Bodlondeb (SH 779 781)

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, 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.

LIDAR image of Coed Bodlondeb (SH 779 781)

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 additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that 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 Carneddau group of hills, which are situated in the North-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and it has the A547 road to its south-west and the Afon Conwy (River Conwy) to its north-east, and has the town of Conwy to its south.

This hill did not appear in the original Welsh 30-99m P30 list published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, and was only listed as a P30 in August 2015 due to research conducted by Mark Jackson.  When this hill was subsequently listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales it appeared under the name of Bodlondeb Wood, which is a name that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map

The intricacies of language and prioritising one in favour of another for listing a hill is fraught with complication, with originating Cymraeg names being anglicised and also originating English names being cymricised, examples such as these are more common in border country and especially so for anglicised forms.  There is no steadfast rule that fits all, but as a standard a name that has its origins in the Welsh language and where this is substantiated by either historic documentation and / or contemporary usage should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or English version of the name.  Likewise, if a name exists where an element of it is in English and if this name applies to a hill that is situated in a Welsh speaking part of Wales it is standard practice to use a full Welsh term for the name.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Coed Bodlondeb, and this was derived as the Welsh name for this hill is prioritised over its English equivalent, which for listing purposes is standard practice.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carneddau

Name:  Coed Bodlondeb

Previously Listed Name:  Bodlondeb Wood 

OS 1:50,000 map:  115

Summit Height:  55.6m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 77921 78114

Bwlch Height:  22.9m (LIDAR, natural bwlch)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 77852 77725 (LIDAR, natural bwlch) 

Drop:  32.6m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  58.70% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

My thanks to Aled Williams for his advice in relation to this hill name

For details on the summit survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2019)