Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Long Park (SS 072 984)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Long Park (SS 072 984)

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

30-99m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m 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.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of 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 Brandy Hill group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B4), and is positioned with the coast to its south, the A4139 road to its north and the B4585 road to its west and south, and has the village of Maenorbŷr (Manorbier) towards the south-west.

The hill originally appeared in the Welsh 30-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Middle Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South.

Middle Hill

80c

SS072984

158

36

Name from buildings 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 name of a farm and use it for that of the hill.  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

As the summit of this hill comprises bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe 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 633 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 Long Park in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Manorbeer [sic] and in the county named as Pembrokeshire.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Long Park, and this name was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Brandy Hill

Name:  Long Park

Previously Listed Name:  Middle Hill

  

OS 1:50,000 map:  158

Summit Height:  79.2m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SS 07255 98449 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  48.0m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SS 06985 99391 (LIDAR)

Drop:  31.1m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  39.34% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2020)

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales – Deweys

Carn Hyddgen (SN 792 908) – Dewey addition

This is one in a series of retrospective Hill Reclassification posts that detail hills whose status has altered in the listing of the Deweys and where I have had direct association with the status change.  These posts will tie in with a forthcoming Change Register giving detail to this list and its alterations since publication in the Mountain tables book.

The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales are affectionately known after their hill list compiler; Michael Dewey.  This list mixes metric and imperial height in its criteria to bookend up to the 2000ft height band and takes in all hills in England, Isle of Man and Wales that are 500m and above and below 2000ft (609.6m) in height that have 30m minimum drop.

This list formed one of a number of lists that appeared in the Mountain tables book published by Constable in 1995 and at the time of publication comprised 373 hills with 164 in England, 5 in the Isle of Man and 204 in Wales.  The Deweys have undergone extensive revision since first publication with the initial stages forming the basis of this revision given below:

1995    Mountain tables published by Constable with 373 hills listed as Deweys.

April 2000    Strider (LDWA quarterly booklet) publishes contact details for David Purchase and Myrddyn Phillips who have found and list 24 and 14 possible new 500m tops respectively.

It was expanded versions of the above two lists that formed the basis of the next publication:

25^th May 2000    List of Possible 500 Metre Tops by Michael Dewey listing 44 hills.

David Purchase expands his Additional Dewey 500m Hills and Myrddyn Phillips produces lists of English 500m hills to measure and Welsh 500m hills to measure.

These lists formed the basis of the next publication:

29^th June 2000    Possible/Probable 500’s by Michael Dewey listing 77 hills.  Michael adopts following protocol; if one person proposes that a top should qualify as a 500 by personal survey, and is then confirmed by a second person, it should then be promoted to the main list.

April 2002    The 500+ Tops of England and Wales – The ‘New Deweys’ published in the Strider booklet and listing 66 new qualifying hills.

25^th May 2006    Rob Woodall republishes Michael’s main and possible/probable lists on the RHB Yahoo group file database. 

 

Mountain tables by Michael Dewey

The details for this addition appear below:

The name the hill is listed by in the Deweys is Carn Hyddgen, and it is adjoined to the Pumlumon group of hills which are situated in the western part of Mid Wales, and it is positioned with the A487 road to the west, the A44 road to the south and the B4518 road to the east, and has the town of Machynlleth towards the north-north-west.

This hill was not included in the original 1995 Constable publication, but with a 566m summit spot height and bwlch contouring between 510m – 520m that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, this hill was an automatic entry to the listing of Deweys.  However, its proximity to the hill named Foel Uchaf (SN 802 912) on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, which is given a 565m summit spot height may have implicated it being missed from the original listing, and when Carn Hyddgen was included this may have led to the subsequent deletion of Foel Uchaf; the lower map heighted hill, which was later reinstated.

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

The above detail was noted by David Purchase and Myrddyn Phillips who worked independently but also exchanged all data.  These details were forwarded to the list author; Michael Dewey and the hill was added to the list on the 11^th May 2000.

Extract from the Magic Maps website

Since the inclusion of this hill in the Dewey list 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 514m spot height on the area of this hill’s bwlch, and when coupled with the 566m summit spot height these values give this hill 52m of drop.  The 514m spot height is also shown on Ordnance Survey data that appears on the Magic Maps website.

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Carn Hyddgen

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

OS 1:25,000 map:  215

Summit Height:  566m (spot height)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 79233 90831 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)

Bwlch Height:  514m (spot height)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 80386 92697 (spot height)

Drop:  52m (spot height summit and bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2020)

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – 200m Twmpau

Church Hill Common (SO 51785 10565 & SO 51788 10566) – 200m Sub-Twmpau reclassified to 200m Twmpau

There has been confirmation of a reclassification to the list of 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 Church Hill Common (SO 517 105)

The criteria for the list that this reclassification applies to are:

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.  With the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

The name the hill is listed by is Church Hill Common, and it is adjoined to the Gwent Is Coed group of hills which are situated in the south-eastern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C3), and it is positioned with the B4293 road and the A40 road to the west and the A466 road and the Afon Gwy (River Wye) to the east, and has the town of Trefynwy (Mounmouth) towards the north-west.

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was included in the accompanying Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for the main P30 list. 

When the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-assessed and it was listed with an estimated c 30m of drop, based on the 232m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 202m bwlch height, with the latter based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 200m – 205m.

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

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. 

LIDAR image of Church Hill Common

The confirmation of the reclassification of this hill from 200m Sub-Twmpau status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 232.7m summit height and a 202.3m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 30.3m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified as a 200m Twmpau.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Gwent Is Coed

Name:  Church Hill Common

OS 1:50,000 map:  162

Summit Height:  232.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 51785 10565 & SO 51788 10566 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  202.3m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 51524 10349 (LIDAR)

Drop:  30.3m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2020)

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

Ffridd Cerrig Cae Newydd (SH 829 633)

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 derived from detail on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.

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 Mynydd Hiraethog group of hills which are situated in the north-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it is positioned with the A548 road to its north-west and the B5113 road to its east, and has the town of Llanrwst towards the west south-west.

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

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

Pen Henffrith

302m

SH829634

116

17

Name from buildings to the West. 303m on 1:50000 map

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.  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. 

As this hill comprises bounded land the Tithe map was consulted.  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 102 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 Ffridd Cerrig Cae Newydd in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanrwst and in the county named as Denbigh.

Extract from the apportionments

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

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Hiraethog

Name:  Ffridd Cerrig Cae Newydd

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Henffrith

OS 1:50,000 map:  116

Summit Height:  302m (spot height)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 82967 63328 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)

Bwlch Height:  272m (spot height)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 83181 63238 (spot height)

Drop:  30m (spot height summit and bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2020)

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales – Deweys

Stanky Hill (SO 163 764) – Dewey addition

This is one in a series of retrospective Hill Reclassification posts that detail hills whose status has altered in the listing of the Deweys and where I have had direct association with the status change.  These posts will tie in with a forthcoming Change Register giving detail to this list and its alterations since publication in the Mountain tables book.

The bwlch of Stanky Hill

The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales are affectionately known after their hill list compiler; Michael Dewey.  This list mixes metric and imperial height in its criteria to bookend up to the 2000ft height band and takes in all hills in England, Isle of Man and Wales that are 500m and above and below 2000ft (609.6m) in height that have 30m minimum drop.

This list formed one of a number of lists that appeared in the Mountain tables book published by Constable in 1995 and at the time of publication comprised 373 hills with 164 in England, 5 in the Isle of Man and 204 in Wales.  The Deweys have undergone extensive revision since first publication with the initial stages forming the basis of this revision given below:

1995    Mountain tables published by Constable with 373 hills listed as Deweys.

April 2000    Strider (LDWA quarterly booklet) publishes contact details for David Purchase and Myrddyn Phillips who have found and list 24 and 14 possible new 500m tops respectively.

It was expanded versions of the above two lists that formed the basis of the next publication:

25^th May 2000    List of Possible 500 Metre Tops by Michael Dewey listing 44 hills.

David Purchase expands his Additional Dewey 500m Hills and Myrddyn Phillips produces lists of English 500m hills to measure and Welsh 500m hills to measure.

These lists formed the basis of the next publication:

29^th June 2000    Possible/Probable 500’s by Michael Dewey listing 77 hills.  Michael adopts following protocol; if one person proposes that a top should qualify as a 500 by personal survey, and is then confirmed by a second person, it should then be promoted to the main list.

April 2002    The 500+ Tops of England and Wales – The ‘New Deweys’ published in the Strider booklet and listing 66 new qualifying hills.

25^th May 2006    Rob Woodall republishes Michael’s main and possible/probable lists on the RHB Yahoo group file database. 

 

Mountain tables by Michael Dewey

The details for this addition appear below:

The name the hill is listed by in the Deweys is Stanky Hill, and it is adjoined to the Radnor Forest group of hills which are situated in the north-eastern part of Mid Wales, and it is positioned with the B4355 road to its north, the A483 road to its west and the B4356 road to its south, and has the village of Bugeildy (Beguildy) towards the north-east.

This hill was not included in the original 1995 Constable publication, but with a 506m summit spot height and bwlch contouring between 470m – 480m that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, the interpolated drop value was estimated sufficient for this hill to be considered for Dewey status.  However, as the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map also shows a 407m spot height on the area of this hill’s bwlch this hill had not been considered for automatic entry to this list.

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

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map

The above detail was noted by David Purchase and Myrddyn Phillips who worked independently but also exchanged all data.  On the 30^th April 2000 Myrddyn Phillips conducted a basic levelling survey (BLS) of this hill, resulting in 103ft / 31.4m of drop.  These details were forwarded to the list author; Michael Dewey and the hill was added to the list on the 8^th May 2000.

As the margin of uncertainty for the BLS method of surveying over terrain such as that on Stanky Hill is approximately +/- 1.5m and as the resulting 31.4m of drop was near the minimum 30m qualifying drop value, this hill was prioritised for a GNSS and level and staff line survey, and this took place on the 16^th February 2012.  The summit and bwlch of this hill were surveyed by John Barnard, Graham Jackson and Myrddyn Phillips with assistance from Aled Williams, using a Leica 530 with 60 minutes of data gathered at each point.  During data collection the hill was also line surveyed from bwlch to summit and back to its bwlch, resulting in the drop value for this hill being ascertained from a further two different forms of surveying.

At the bwlch of Stanky Hill

The survey resulted in a 506.7m summit height and a 476.4m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 30.3m of drop, which also matched that ascertained from the level and staff line survey, and confirmed this hill’s Dewey status. 

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Stanky Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  136, 148

OS 1:25,000 map:  214

Summit Height:  506.7m (Leica 530)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 16390 76419 (Leica 530)

Bwlch Height:  476.4m (Leica 530)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 16861 76416 (hand-held GPS during survey)

Drop:  30.3m (Leica 530 and level and staff line survey)

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2020)