Mapping Mountains – Significant Height Revisions – Y Trichant and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Mynydd y Lan (ST 209 923)

There has been a Significant Height Revision to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant and the Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Mynydd y Lan (ST 209 923)

The criteria for the two listings that this significant height revision applies to are:

Y Trichant – Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the Sub-Trichant with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, with the Introduction to the list and the renaming of it appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 13^th May 2017.

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 name of the hill is Mynydd y Lan and it is adjoined to the Cymoedd Gwent group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C2), and it is encircled by roads with the B4251 to its south and west, the A472 to its north and the A467 and B4591 and the Afon Ebwy (Ebbw River) to its east, and has the town of Trecelyn (Newbridge) towards the north and the village of Pontycymer (Crosskeys) towards the east.

When the original Welsh 300m P30 list was published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed with a 381m summit height, based on the spot height positioned at ST 20794 92508 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, with an accompanying note stating that the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map has a 385m spot height positioned at ST 20898 92357.  As heights on 1:25,000 scale mapping were prioritised in this list over those on 1:50,000 scale mapping this hill’s summit was listed to where the 381m spot height appears on the 1:25,000 Explorer map.

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

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map

When the Welsh Dominant list was originally compiled this hill was listed with 56.43% dominance based on its 381m summit spot height and its 166m bwlch spot height, with the latter appearing on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, with these values giving this hill 215m of drop.

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill were next re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales.

LIDAR summit image of Mynydd y Lan

LIDAR bwlch image of Mynydd y Lan

The summit height produced by LIDAR analysis and its position in relation to the 385m spot height comes within the parameters of the Significant Height Revisions used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Significant Height Revisions applies to any listed hill whose interpolated height and Ordnance Survey or Harvey map summit spot height has a 2m or more discrepancy when compared to the survey result produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000 or analysis of data produced via LIDAR, also included are hills whose summit map data is missing an uppermost ring contour when compared to the data produced by the Trimble or by LIDAR analysis.  As heights on different scaled Ordnance Survey maps are not consistent the height given on the 1:25,000 Explorer map is being prioritised in favour of the 1:50,000 Landranger map for detailing these revisions.

The summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 381.3m and is positioned at ST 20903 92337, this is 3.7m lower than the 385m spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map at approximately the same position.

ills of Wales, and are reproduced below@

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cymoedd Gwent

Name:  Mynydd y Lan

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height (New height):  381.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 20903 92337 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  159.5m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 19806 96725 (LIDAR)

Drop:  221.8m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  58.17% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2019)