Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Tumps

Wincobank Hill (SK 377 910) - recommended name change from Wincobank 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Tumps, with the summit and col height, their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

The information board at the start of the north-eastern ascent of Wincobank Hill

The criterion for the list that this name change affects is:

Tumps – All British hills with 30m or more of drop.

The list was duplicated, compiled and collated by Mark Jackson and first published in 2009, with the word Tump being an acronym meaning Thirty & Upward Metre Prominences.

The hill is situated in Region 36 Lancashire, Cheshire and Southern Pennines and adjoined to the Bleaklow Head group of hills.  The hill is enclosed by the city of Sheffield and major roads, with the M1 motorway to the north-east, the A6135 to the west, the A6102 to the south and the A6109 to the east.

This hill was listed in the Tumps under the name of Wincobank, which is a name that is prominent near the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey maps.  When compiling hill lists authors are prone to use a name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, without much consideration for its local or historic confirmation, or whether map placement is appropriate.

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

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 the locally known name for the hill or the land where the summit of the hill is situated can usually be found, and in the case of this hill it was local enquiry, online research and the information board at the start of the ascent of the hill from the north-east that all named the hill as Wincobabk Hill.

I asked Tracy Pidd Smith; a local resident of Wincobank who has lived all of her life in Sheffield, whether the hill is known by a name, she replied Wincobank Hill, with the name of Wincobank now applied to the district rather than just the hill itself.

Online research revealed a number of sites naming the hill as Wincobank Hill, including the Friends of Wincobank Hill website, which gives a number of details relating to the hill.

Extract from the Friends of Wincobank Hill website

Lastly, an information board at the beginning of the north-eastern ascent of the hill gives the name of the hill as Wincobank Hill.

Therefore, as the hill is known locally as Wincobank Hill, and this name is substantiated in a number of online sources and on an information board at the beginning of the main ascent of the hill, the recommendation is that the listed name used in the Tumps is changed to Wincobank Hill. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Bleaklow Head

Recommended Name:  Wincobank Hill

Current Listed Name:  Wincobank 

OS 1:50,000 map:  110, 111

Summit Height:  161.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SK 37770 91011 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  122.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Col Grid Reference:  SK 37574 91286 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

 

Drop:  39.1m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 col)

For details on the survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2019)