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

Bryn Du (SH 866 014)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that was surveyed for inclusion 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 ascertained from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

Bryn Du (SH 866 014)

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 13th May 2017.

The hill is adjoined to the Pumlumon group of hills, which are situated in the north ern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned with the Afon Twymyn and the A470 road to its north and the B4518 road to its east, and has the village of Llanbrynmair towards the north-east. 

The hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list that accompanied the original Welsh 300m P30 list published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used in this sub category.  It was later listed by the point (Pt. 370m) notation when The Welsh P15s were compiled.  Prompted by the Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey 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 1410 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 Bryn Du in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Darowen and in the county named as Montgomery.

Extract from the apportionments

Although the hill does not meet the criteria for a Sub-Trichant, it was surveyed for this status and as its listed name does not appear on an Ordnance Survey map it is worth documenting with a Significant Name Changes post under the list that it was surveyed for.  Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by is Bryn Du, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Pumlumon

Name:  Bryn Du

Previously Listed Name:  Pt. 370m

OS 1:50,000 map:  135, 136

Summit Height:  368.4m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 86623 01433

Bwlch Height:  352.1m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 86831 01543

Drop:  16.3m 

Myrddyn Phillips (January 2020)