Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Hopkins Mount (ST 170 678 & ST 170 679)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR summit image of Hopkins Mount (ST 170 678 and ST 170 679)

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

30-99m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m 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, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015 and available in Google Doc format.

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 is positioned with the B4267 road to its north-west and has a minor road to its south and east, and has the village of Sili (Sully) towards the west.

When the original 30-99m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed under the partly invented and transposed name of Swanbridge Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hamlet to the South-West.

Swanbridge Hill

61m

ST170679

171

151

Name from hamlet to the South-West

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 near hamlet and add the word Hill to it.  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

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, and it is the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local and the series of Six-Inch maps that name the area taking in the summit of this hill as Hopkins Mount.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Hopkins Mount, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, and the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Bro Morgannwg

Name:  Hopkins Mount

Previously Listed Name:  Swanbridge Hill

 

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  61.45m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 17066 67891 & ST 17066 67897 & ST 17069 67894 & ST 17071 67895 & ST 17079 67900 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  20.6m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 18633 69935 (LIDAR)

Drop:  40.9m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  66.50% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2019)