Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

Carreg y Frân (SO 184 790)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams.

LIDAR image of Carreg y Frân (SO 184 790)

The criteria for the two listings 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 that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main Y Pedwarau list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being listed in the 390m Double Sub-Pedwar category.  The criteria for 390m Double Sub-Pedwar status being all Welsh hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales.  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.

The hill is adjoined to the Maelienydd group of hills, which are situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with the B4355 and the River Teme to its north-east, and has the village of Beguildy towards the north-east.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of the Birches which is a name that appears beside the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.  This is also the name this hill was listed by in the 1^st edition of the Y Pedwarau published by Europeaklist in May 2013.

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

The name Carreg y Frân was taken from local and historical sources.  The previously listed name of Birches, which the Ordnance Survey apply to the summit of the hill, strictly refers to enclosed land on the northern side of the ridge (see extract from Tithe map below); refer to 'Upland Place Names in North-East Radnorshire:  Beacon Hill' by A. Williams, Trans. Rad. Soc. (2016) for further details.

Extract from the Tithe map

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Carreg y Frân, and this was derived from local and historical sources.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Maelienydd

Name:  Carreg y Frân

Previously Listed Name:  Birches

OS 1:50,000 map:  136, 148

Summit Height:  393.5m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 18443 79055 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  369.2m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 17773 79089 (LIDAR)

Drop:  24.3m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (November 2019)