Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Pt. 88m (SH 311 869) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill derived from detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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

30-99m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m 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 30-99m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and which is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format. 

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales 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 coast to its west, minor roads to its north and south-east and the A5025 road farther to its east, and has the village of Llanfaethlu towards the east. 

The hill appeared in the original 30-99m Welsh P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Maes Maethlu, which is a prominent name that appears near the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Maes Maethlu

85c

SH311869

114

262

 

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, with the previously listed name of Maes Maethlu applying to a street and not necessarily to the hill itself. 

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

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.  However, even when research is conducted an appropriate name for the hill may not be found, and on such occasions, including for this hill the listing protocol is to use the point (Pt. 88m) notation. 

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Pt. 88m, and this is being used as the author has not found an appropriate name for the hill either through historic research and / or local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Ynys Môn 

Name:  Pt. 88m

Previously Listed Name:  Maes Maethlu 

OS 1:50,000 map:  114

Summit Height:  88m (spot height)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 31119 86934 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH)

Bwlch Height:  52m (spot height)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 32093 87850 (spot height) 

Drop:  36m (spot height summit and bwlch)

Dominance:  40.91% (spot height summit and bwlch)

 

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2021)