15.10.20 Banc Tan y Cwarel (SN 583 747)
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| LIDAR image of Banc Tan y Cwarel (SN 583 747) |
Hill walking is like most things in life; as preparation beforehand can save time when on the hill. And when faced with writing blog posts and detailing name changes or summit relocations, analysis of LIDAR and scrutinising the Tithe map beforehand can give an accurate summit and bwlch location and an appropriate name for the hill.
Whereas LIDAR helps with height and position the Tithe is proving extremely important for finding appropriate names for lower heighted hills that are not necessarily thought of as ‘hills’ in the local community, more as high fields.
Therefore, having done the prep, Charles and I visited this hill and I had come prepared with detailed notes for its summit position and with the Tithe name of Banc Tan y Cwarel for the enclosed land that takes in the high point of the hill.
The morning was proving glorious with blue skies and just a tinge of autumnal warmth. I parked my car on a grass verge opposite a gate that gave access to a disused small quarry which is placed north-east of the hill’s summit. The quarry had left a vertical face of slate or mud stone, which in the late morning light glistened in inviting hues of grey.
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| The small disused quarry |
Ground rose steeply on the left-hand side of the quarry and we followed this up to a fence which gave access to a field leading toward the high point of the hill. Crossing the field a Red Kite glided overhead, looking up I could distinctly see its eyes looking down toward us. These are majestic birds and a number had glided the skies surrounding us during the morning’s hill bagging.
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| Always a pleasure seeing Red Kite's flying overhead |
The high point of the hill was beside a gate which had raised field boundaries running from it. Under a section of the gate and beside one of these boundaries was a large rock. We debated whether the summit of the hill was the top of the rock or ground near its base, as although the rock is obviously natural it was an oddity as no other rock could be seen on the area of the summit. It could of course be an erratic, or it could for whatever reason have been brought here by a farmer. We concluded that we could not prove this one way or the other, and as the rock could not be moved it was now a part of the hill and therefore should be the point to gather data from.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Banc Tan y Cwarel |
As the Trimble quietly beeped away gathering its allotted data I sat with Charles on the lower part of one of the adjacent raised field boundaries and enjoyed the sunshine and the peaceful surrounds.
Once the Trimble had gathered and stored data, I closed it down and before leaving the summit looked out toward our previous hill of the morning; Banc (SN 568 757) with its high mast dominating the westward view. Between us and it were a myriad of grazing fields with the customary small white dots of sheep and the small community of Blaen-plwyf winding its way up beside a narrow lane.
If visiting all nine hills on our planned route for the day, it would take us on a sweep southward of Aberystwyth edging our way eastward as we did so. Banc Tan y Cwarel was our fourth hill of the morning, all had been done at a leisurely pace and now turning away from the summit we retraced our steps back toward the quarry and the awaiting car. Our next hill, with its upper field also named on the Tithe as Banc (SN 598 714); was positioned about 3.5km south south-eastward from where we now were. The day was progressing well and proving very enjoyable.
Survey Result:
Banc Tan y Cwarel (significant name change)
Summit Height: 182.9m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 58349 74798 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Bwlch Height: 142.3m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 57897 75028 (LIDAR)
Drop: 40.6m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
Dominance: 2.18% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
bwlch)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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