Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Cyncoed (SO 427 056)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height, their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR summit image of Cyncoed (SO 427 056)

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

100m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 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, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales - Welsh P30 hills whose prominence  equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and which is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

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 the A449 road to its west and A40 road to its north-east, and has the village of Raglan towards the north-west and the town of Brynbuga (Usk) towards the south-west.

The hill appeared in the original 100m Welsh P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the partly transposed and invented name of Kingcoed Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hamlet to the South.

Kingcoed Hill

113m

SO428057

161

14

Clem/Yeaman. Name from hamlet to the South.

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 transpose the anglicised name of a hamlet and add the word Hill to 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 historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

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

The land this hill incorporates takes in the hamlet of Cyncoed (anglicised to Kingcoed), with this name having developed from that of Cefncoed (Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales, Hywel Wyn Morgan and Richard Morgan, Gomer Press 2007).  The translation of Cefncoed can mean wooded ridge; with the upper part of this hill positioned on a ridge that is still partly wooded.

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 and where this is substantiated by either historic documentation and / or contemporary usage should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or English version of the name.  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 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cyncoed, and this was derived from contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps and deduction of the originating Welsh names meaning. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynyddoedd Duon

Name:  Cyncoed

Previously Listed Name:  Kingcoed Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  161

Summit Height:  113.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 42767 05685 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  60.7m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 43428 08487 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  52.9m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  46.56% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2020)