Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

The Meadow (ST 103 747)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau, with the summit height and position confirmed by a Leica GS15 survey conducted by John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Myrddyn Phillips which took place on the 5^th November 2013, and the bwlch height and position, and hence the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR summit image of The Meadow (ST 103 747)

The criteria for the list 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.

The hill is adjoined to the Bro Morgannwg group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C2), and it has the A4232 road to its north-east and the A48 road to its south, and has the city of Caerdydd (Cardiff) towards the east north-east and the town of Y Bont-faen (Cowbridge) to the west.

Determining the summit position of The Meadow

The hill originally appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of St Lythans Down, which an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South-East.

St. Lythans Down

135c

ST103748

171

151

Name from buildings to the South-East.

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 hamlet for that of the hill.  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

During the survey of this hill’s summit I was told that the upper part of the hill is now used as a natural burial site, and when assessing land towards the west of what proved to be the hill’s high point I picked up an information leaflet giving detail to the natural burial meadow.  This leaflet names the upper part of the hill as The Meadow with online research using the extended name of Cardiff & The Vale Natural Burial Meadow.  The burial meadow is operated by Leedam Natural Heritage and information within the leaflet and on this company’s website names the part of the hill where the summit is situated as the Beech.  

The information leaflet

The area comprising the summit is known as the Beech

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is The Meadow, and this name was derived from information at hand whilst surveying the hill’s summit, and subsequent online research, with the caveat that the summit area is also known as the Beech. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Bro Morgannwg

Name:  The Meadow

Previously Listed Name:  St Lythans Down 

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  135.2m (Leica GS15 and LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 10306 74795 (Leica GS15)

Bwlch Height:  103.1m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 07990 74543 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  32.1m (Leica GS15 and LIDAR summit, and LIDAR bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (October 2019)