Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Mynydd yr Hôb (SJ 294 568)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant 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 and a summit survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, with the latter taking place on the 13^th October 2015.

LIDAR image of Mynydd yr Hôb (SJ 294 568)

The criteria for the two listings that this name change applies to are:

Y Trichant – Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height that have 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, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015.

The hill is adjoined to the Moel y Gamelin group of hills, which are situated in the north-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it has the A541 road to its east and the A5104 road to its north-west and the B5101 road to its west, and has the small communities of Caergwrle and Yr Hôb (Hope) towards the north-east.

This hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Hope Mountain, which is the name appearing close to this hill’s summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps of the day.

Hope Mountain

330m

SJ295569

117

256

Marilyn. Clem/Yeaman. Trig pillar.

During my early hill listing I paid little regard to the use of language, 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.   

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

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Mynydd yr Hôb

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Mynydd yr Hôb, and this was derived from online sources substantiating the present day use of its Welsh name, and this is prioritised over its English equivalent which for listing purposes is standard practice.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Moel y Gamelin

Name:  Mynydd yr Hôb 

Previously Listed Name:  Hope Mountain

 

OS 1:50,000 map:  117

Summit Height:  330.0m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 29476 56892

Bwlch Height:  142.7m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 26903 58849 (LIDAR)

 

Drop:  187.3m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  56.76% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For details on the summit survey of Mynydd yr Hôb

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2019)