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

Yr Allt (SO 196 358)

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 confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Yr Allt (SO 196 358)

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

Y Trichant – 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 Mynyddoedd Duon group of hills which are situated in the eastern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C3), and it is positioned with minor roads to its west, north and east, with the A4078 road further to its west and the A438 road further to its north-west, and has the village of Aberllynfi (Three Cocks) towards the north-west.

The hill originally appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Hay Forest The Allt, which are two names that appear near the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map of the day.

Hay Forest The Allt

330c

SO197359

161

13

During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on the map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are either inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate.

For confirmation of this hill’s name I made local enquires and was put in contact with David Lewis who is aged 72 and has lived the whole of his life in this area; partly in Talgarth and for the last 25 years in Aberllynfi (Three Cocks).  David told me that the forested section of the hill is known as Hay Forest and the hill is known as The Alt (David’s pronunciation).

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

The intricacies of language and prioritising one in favour of another for listing a hill is fraught with complication, with originating Cymraeg names being anglicised and also originating English names being cymricised, examples such as these are more common in border country and especially so for anglicised forms.  There is no steadfast rule that fits all, but as a standard a name that has its origins in the Welsh language should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or English version of the name, and ideally for this to be substantiated by either historic documentation and / or contemporary usage.  Likewise, if a name exists where an element of it is in English and if this name applies to a hill that is situated in a Welsh speaking part of Wales it is standard practice to use a full Welsh term for the name.  It is also standard practice to use a Welsh name for a hill if another name exists that has originated in a different language.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Yr Allt, and this was derived from the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and substantiated locally, with the Welsh originating name for this hill prioritised over the partly English version, which for listing purposes is standard practice.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynyddoedd Duon

Name:  Yr Allt

Previously Listed Name:  Hay Forest The Allt

OS 1:50,000 map:  161

Summit Height:  334.0m (LIDAR, natural summit)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 19677 35879 (LIDAR, natural summit)

Bwlch Height:  301.7m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 20120 35549 (LIDAR)

Drop:  32.3m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2019)