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

Ringland Top (ST 353 885)

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 Ringland Top (ST 353 885)

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 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 B4237 road and the M4 motorway to its north-west, and the A48 road to its south and east, and is positioned in the eastern outskirts of the city of Casnewydd (Newport).

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

The hill appeared in the original 30-99m Welsh P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of The Circles, which online sources indicate is more applicable to a housing estate rather than the hill. 

The Circles

66m

ST353885

171

152

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.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map and the mapping on the Magic Maps website, and it is the latter map and the series of Six-Inch maps that name the area taking in the summit of this hill as Ringland Top.

Extract from the Magic Maps website

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Ringland Top, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey mapping on the Magic Maps website and the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Gwent Is Coed

Name:  Ringland Top

Previously Listed Name:  The Circles

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  67.3m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 35318 88536 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  25.6m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 35529 88767 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  41.7m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  61.95% (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2020)