Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Welsh P15s

Parciau (SH 491 845) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in The Welsh P15s, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Parciau (SH 491 845)

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

The Welsh P15s – Welsh hills with 15m minimum drop, irrespective of their height, with an accompanying sub list entitled the Welsh Sub-P15s, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills with 14m or more and below 15m of drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, with the Introduction to the list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 10^th May 2019. 

The Welsh P15s 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 the A5025 road to its north, a minor road to its south and the B5110 road to its south-east, and has the village of Benllech towards the south-east. 

When the listing that became known as The Welsh P15s was being compiled, this hill was listed under the point (Pt. 107m) notation with 14m of drop, based on the 107m summit spot height and the 93m 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. 

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

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 15 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 Parciau in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llaneugrad and in the county named as Anglesey. 

Extract from the apportionments

Since the initial compilation of this list there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites. 

One of the mapping resources now online is the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps available on the National Library of Scotland website.  This mapping preceded the 1:10,000 base map and has proven an excellent resource for name placement, something that the publicly available Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps cannot proclaim.  And it is the Six-Inch map that places the name of Parciau adjacent to this hill’s summit. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Welsh P15s is Parciau and this was derived from the Tithe map and substantiated from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Ynys Môn 

Name:  Parciau

Previously Listed Name:  Pt. 107m 

OS 1:50,000 map:  114, 115

Summit Height:  108.1m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 49187 84550 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  93.6m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 49266 84361 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  14.5m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2021)