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

Ffridd y Foel Boeth (SJ 015 387) 

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 Ffridd y Foel Boeth (SJ 015 387) 

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 Arenig group of hills, which are situated in the central part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A494 road to its north-west, the B4402 road to its west and the B4401 road to its south-east, and has the town of Y Bala towards the west south-west. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the invented and transposed name of Pen-y-Branas, with an accompanying note stating; Name from lodge to the South.

Pen-y-Branas

380m

SJ016387

125

255

Name from lodge to the South

 

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 or as in this instance transpose the name of a lodge and prefix it with the words Pen-y-.  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

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 537 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 Ffridd y Foel Boeth, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llandrillo and in the county named as Merioneth. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Ffridd y Foel Boeth and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Arenig 

Name:  Ffridd y Foel Boeth 

Previously Listed Name:  Pen-y-Branas 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  379.9m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 01590 38791 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  341.3m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 01568 39057 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  38.6m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2021)