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

Coed Duon (SO 364 008)

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, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Coed Duon (SO 364 008)

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 Cymoedd Gwent group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C2), and it is positioned above the A472 road and the Afon Wysg (River Usk) which are to its north-east, and has the town of Brynbuga (Usk) towards its 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 Pen Coed-duon, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the North.

Pen Coed-duon

115m

SO364008

171

152

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 prefix it with the word Pen.  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

The ground comprising the wood known as Coed Duon takes in a relatively thin strip of land, with the high point of the hill close to its edge to its south.  As the enclosed field where the summit is situated is not named on the Tithe map it is appropriate to use the main named feature of this hill as its name for listing purposes, and this name is Coed Duon.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Coed Duon, and this was derived from contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cymoedd Gwent

Name:  Coed Duon

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Coed-duon 

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  114.8m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 36405 00817 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  61.6m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 34989 00614 (LIDAR)

 

Drop:  53.2m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  46.36% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2019)