Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

 

Pen Ucheldref (SH 558 773) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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

100m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 100m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m 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 100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Ynys Môn group of hills, which are situated in the north-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and it is positioned with a minor road to its immediate south-east and the B5109 road to its immediate south-west, and has the village of Llanddona towards the north-east. 

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for this sub category. 

After 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 as Cae’r Ffynnon; a name that appeared near to the summit of this hill on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, with 21m of drop, based on the 133m summit spot height and the 112m bwlch spot height that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

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. 

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 54 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 Pen Ucheldref in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llansadwrn and in the county named as Anglesey. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Pen Ucheldref, and this was derived from the Tithe map, with Cae’r Ffynnon being the name of a farm positioned at SH 55656 77363 and Pen Ucheldref the name of a farm positioned at SH 55884 77174, with the Tithe naming the land where the summit of this hill is situated as Pen Ucheldref. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Ynys Môn 

Name:  Pen Ucheldref

Previously Listed Name:  Cae’r Ffynnon 

OS 1:50,000 map:  114, 115

Summit Height:  133m (spot height) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 55805 77334 (spot height) 

Bwlch Height:  112m (spot height) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 57062 78438 (spot height) 

Drop:  21m (spot height summit and bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2021)