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

 

Caer Drewyn (SJ 091 444) 

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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, with a subsequent Leica GS15 survey conducted by John Barnard and Graham Jackson. 

Caer Drewyn (SJ 091 444)

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 Moel y Gamelin 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 A5104 road to its north, the B5437 road to its south and the B5436 road to its east, and has the village of Carrog towards the east south-east. 

The qualifying hill appeared in the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed and invented name of Pen Coed Mawr, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the South, and it was included in the main P30 list and given twin topped 314m map heighted summit status along with its adjacent hill positioned at SJ 094 443.

Pen Coed Mawr

314m

SJ091444

125

255/256

Name from wood to the South.

 

After the P30 lists were standardised and interpolated heights and drop values also included, this hill was listed as the non-priority summit with 18m of drop based on the 314m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 296m bwlch spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, with its adjacent 314m twin summit given priority status and listed with an estimated c 91m of drop based on the 314m summit spot height and an estimated c 223m bwlch height based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 220m – 230m that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.  Subsequent LIDAR analysis gives the summit positioned at SJ 09438 44364 as slightly lower and therefore it loses priority twin top status and the bylchau are swapped. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer 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 or as in this instance transpose the name of a near wood and prefix it with the word Pen.  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. 

Prior to local enquiry information being passed to me, and 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 661 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 y Gaer, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Corwen and in the county named as Merioneth. 

Extract from the apportionments

However, as the locally known name for this hill compliments its main named feature this is being prioritised for its listed name, and this information was passed on to me by Aled Williams.

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

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Moel y Gamelin 

Name:  Caer Drewyn 

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Coed Mawr 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  313.5m (Leica GS15)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 09127 44416 (Leica GS15) 

Bwlch Height:  222.7m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 09770 45600 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  90.8m (Leica GS15 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2021)