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

 

Cefn Top (SO 317 953) 

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 confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

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 13^th May 2017. 

Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Stiperstones group of hills, which straddle the border between Wales and England with the Welsh part of this group situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with the A490 road to its west, the A489 road to its south and the A488 road to its east, and has the village of Yr Ystog (Churchstoke) towards the west south-west. 

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

 

Little Cefn Hill

354m

SO318953

137

216

Name from buildings to the South-West

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 an adjacent farm 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

This was one of a number of hills on a circular walk and before visiting the summit I called at Brithdir Farm to make place-name enquiries.  I was met by Barry Llewelyn whose family have farmed from Brithdir since the 1860s and he named many of the hills in the surrounding area, including this one which he told me is known as Cefn Top.  Barry told me that he rents the land that the summit of this hill is situated on, and I then asked about the name of Cefn Bank, which appears on the Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map.  Barry explained that they know the minor road as Cefn Bank and not the hill; this road is positioned to the west of the hill and crosses close to where its bwlch is situated.  I spent a number of minutes with Barry and after asking about other local hills I thanked him for his time and headed down the farm’s access track on to the narrow leading to Woodgate Farm, where I stopped and asked another farmer about this hill and the name of Cefn Bank.  I was told the same information as Barry had given me; Cefn Bank is the name they know the minor road to the west of the hill. 

Barry Llewelyn of Brithdir farm

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Cefn Top, and this was derived from local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Stiperstones 

Name:  Cefn Top 

Previously Listed Name:  Little Cefn Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  137

Summit Height:  354.4m (converted to OSGM15) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 31764 95334 

Bwlch Height:  313.2m (converted to OSGM15) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 31502 95512 

Drop:  41.2m 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2021)