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

 

Pen y Mirth (SO 319 948) 

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. 

Pen y Mirth (SO 319 948)

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 small community of Hyssington towards the 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 Bank Farm Top, with an accompanying note stating; Name from farm to the South-East.

 

Bank Farm Top

332m

SO319948

137

216

Name from farm to the South-East

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 Top 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

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 398 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 Penymirth in the apportionments, with the details appearing in the parish of Hyssington and in the counties named as Montgomery and Salop. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Pen y Mirth, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Stiperstones 

Name:  Pen y Mirth 

Previously Listed Name:  Bank Farm Top 

OS 1:50,000 map:  137

Summit Height:  332.2m (converted to OSGM15) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 31947 94840 

Bwlch Height:  299.7m (converted to OSGM15) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 31847 94950 

Drop:  32.5m 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2021)