Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – 100m Twmpau and 200m Twmpau

Coed y Bwnydd (SO 366 069) – 100m Twmpau reclassified to 200m Twmpau

There has been a reclassification to the list of 100m Twmpau and 200m Twmpau, 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 Coed y Bwnydd (SO 366 069)

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

100m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height that have 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.

100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

200m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 200m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.

200m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The name the hill is listed by is Coed y Bwnydd and it 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 the Afon Wysg (River Usk) and the B4598 road to its west, the A40 road to its north and the A449 road to its east, and has the village of Raglan towards the east north-east and the town of Brynbuga (Usk) towards the south south-east.

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was included in the main P30 list under the name of Clytha Hill and listed with a 196m summit height, based on the spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map at SO 368 069.

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

The details for this hill were re-assessed when the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map became available online.  This mapping had many spot heights not on other publicly available Ordnance Survey maps and gives a second 196m spot height on the summit area of this hill and positioned at SO 367 069.  This additional 196m spot height also appears on Ordnance Survey data available on the Magic Maps website.

Extract from the Magic Maps website

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales. 

The reclassification of this hill from 100m Twmpau status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 201.4m summit height and a 59.4m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 142.0m of drop.  With the 201.4m summit height taken to the remains of an embankment which forms a part of an ancient hill fort which qualifies under the criteria used within this list and its height is sufficient for it to be classified as a 200m Twmpau.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynyddoedd Duon

Name:  Coed y Bwnydd

OS 1:50,000 map:  161

Summit Height:  201.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 36613 06919 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  59.4m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 39308 08901 (LIDAR)

Drop:  142.0m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (January 2020)