Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

 

Cefn Cyfronydd (SJ 144 082) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is now listed in the 100m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis and a subsequent Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

Cefn Cyfronydd (SJ 144 082) on the left of photo

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 Carnedd Wen group of hills which are situated in the south-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A4), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north, the B4389 road to its north-west, the A458 road to its south-west and the B4392 road to its east, and has the small town of Llanfair Caereinion towards the west south-west. 

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed under the invented and transposed name of Pen-Cefn-cyfronydd, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the North and West.

Pen-Cefn-cyfronydd

200c

SJ146084

125

215/239

Name from buildings to the North and West.

 

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.  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

I first visited this hill in October 2011, on that occasion I asked a local farmer if I could visit the summit and if so, where would be best to park.  He directed me up an access track to a house that is positioned just below the summit.  During our conversation I asked about the name of the hill, he told me that it is known as Cefn Cyfronydd, which is also the name of one of the houses beside the access track. 

Colin Owen of Garth Vaughan farm

During a subsequent visit to this hill in March 2021 I called at Garth Vaughan farm where I met Colin Owen.  He was in a large barn looking after newly born lambs and we chatted for a number of minutes, I asked if I could use the track which shot straight up toward the higher part of the hill from the side of the barn and a few minutes later I was steadily plodding uphill.  After surveying the summit I descended back to Garth Vaughan and called over to Colin, he invited me in to the barn to see the newly born lambs with one mother giving birth to four lambs earlier in the morning.  During our conversation I asked about the name of the hill and he confirmed that he had heard it being called Cefn Cyfronydd. 

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Cefn Cyfronydd, and this was derived from local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Carnedd Wen 

Name:  Cefn Cyfronydd

Previously Listed Name:  Pen-Cefn-cyfronydd 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  199.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 14459 08297 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Height:  150.6m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 14997 08587 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  48.5m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2021)