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

Mount Aire (SO 162 707) 

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 LIDAR analysis and a subsequent Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Mount Aire (SO 162 707)

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 Beacon Hill group of hills, which are situated in Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is encircled by minor roads with the B4356 road farther to its north, the A483 road farther to its west and the A488 road farther to its south, and has the village of Llangynllo towards the east. 

The hill appeared in the original 300m Welsh P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Coxhead Bank Common, which is a prominent name that appears near this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps and is strictly applicable to common land that is now shown as open access land on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Coxhead Bank Common

336m

SO163707

136/148

200/214

 

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. 

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

Prior to visiting this hill the Tithe map was consulted and the bounded land where the summit of this hill is situated was named Wheat Piece at the time of the Tithe.  When visiting this hill I was fortunate to meet Hywel Rees who is the farmer’s son from Upper Pentre (SO 164 708).  Hywel was on his quad bike driving down the access track from his farm; I was walking near to the access track and waved over for him to stop.  We chatted for a number of minutes and he told me that the upper field where the high point of the hill is situated is known as Mount Aire.  He also confirmed that there is no individual name for this hill and when asked if he had ever heard the name of Wheat Piece being applied to the upper field, he said no.  Having thanked Hywel for his time he kindly gave me permission to visit the field and survey its high point. 

Hywel Rees of Upper Pentre farm

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Mount Aire and this was derived from local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Beacon Hill 

Name:  Mount Aire 

Previously Listed Name:  Coxhead Bank Common 

OS 1:50,000 map:  136, 148

Summit Height:  336.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 16235 70786 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Height:  308.8m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 16253 71635 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  27.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2021)