Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wale

Top Nant Cwm Mawr (SJ 253 497)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by spot height data and interpolation from the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

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

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height with 30m minimum drop, the list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

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 is positioned with the A525 road to its north-west, the B5430 road towards its north and the B5426 road to its east, and has the town of Wrecsam (Wrexham) towards the east.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 400m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the name of Esclusham Mountain, which is a name that appears close to this hill’s summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.

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

The name of Esclusham Mountain also appears online in the Welsh variant of Mynydd Esclus, as evidenced on the Ordnance Survey map on the WalkLakes website.  However, this rendition may be a modern rendering without historic merit or local usage.

Extract from the WalkLakes website

Ideally names on maps that can be viewed as being established should be substantiated by people who work the land that the summit of the hill is situated on, as preference for locally known names can change over time, and in the case of this hill it was a chance encounter with the local gamekeeper who gave the name of Top Nant Cwm Mawr for this hill.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is Top Nant Cwm Mawr, and this was derived from local enquiry.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Moel y Gamelin

Name:  Top Nant Cwm Mawr

Previously Listed Name:  Esclusham Mountain

OS 1:50,000 map:  117

Summit Height:  460m (spot height)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 25334 49765 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)

Bwlch Height:  c 422m (interpolation)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 25236 49660 (interpolation)

Drop:  c 38m

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (October 2019)