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

Glynllugwy (SH 754 592)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill determined from detail on the OS Maps website.

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

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 Carneddau group of hills, which are situated in the north-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and it is positioned between Llyn Bychan to its west, Llyn Goddionduon to its south and Llyn Bodgynydd to its east, with the A5 road to its south and the B5106 road, the Afon Conwy and the A470 road to its east, and has the village of Capel Curig towards the west south-west and the village of Betws-y-coed towards the south-east. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the partly invented and transposed name of Pen Llyn Bychan, with an accompanying note stating; Name from lake to the West.

Pen Llyn Bychan

310c

SH755592

115

17

Name from lake to the 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, use the name of a lake and put the word Pen in front of 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now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and as this hill comprises bounded land the Tithe map was consulted.

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

The term Tithe map is generally given to a map of a Welsh or English parish or township and which was prepared after the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act.  This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods.  The Tithe maps gave names of owners and occupiers of land in each parish and importantly for place-name research they also included the name of enclosed land.  This enclosed land is usually based on a field system, however not every field is given a name, but many are and especially so in Wales.

Extract from the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 45 on the Tithe map, this can be cross referenced against the apportionments; it is these apportionments that give the name of the owner or occupier of the land as well as the name of the land.  The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Glynllygwy [sic] in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanrwst and in the county named as Carnarvonshire [sic].

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Glynllugwy, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carneddau

Name:  Glynllugwy

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Llyn Bychan

OS 1:50,000 map:  115

Summit Height:  c 309m (interpolation)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 75489 59245 (interpolation)

Bwlch Height:  c 271m (interpolation)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 75308 59501 (interpolation)

Drop:  c 38m

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2019)