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

 

Coed Tyn y Bryn (SN 780 748) 

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 derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Coed Tyn y Bryn (SN 780 748)

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 Elenydd group of hills, which are situated in the central part of the Mid and West Wales Region (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned with the B4574 road to its west and a minor road to its east, and has the village of Cwmystwyth towards the south-east. 

When the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed under the name of Bryn Bach, which is a prominent name that appears close to this hill’s summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer maps.

Bryn Bach

384m

SN781749

135/147

213

 

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, and in the case of this hill the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps suggest the name of Bryn Bach is more applicable to land to the west of this hill’s summit and not necessarily to the hill itself. 

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 213 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 Bryn Wood, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn and in the county named as Cardigan. 

Extract from the apportionments

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website 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 Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, and the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites, and it is the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps that give the name of the remaining wood that once took in the summit of this hill as Coed Tyn y Bryn and as this was the main named feature of the hill it is appropriate to use it for listing purposes. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Coed Tyn y Bryn and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Elenydd 

Name:  Coed Tyn y Bryn 

Previously Listed Name:  Bryn Bach 

OS 1:50,000 map:  135, 147

Summit Height:  382.6m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 78020 74882 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  356.0m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 78284 75162 & SN 78292 75165 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  26.65m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2021)