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

 

Garth Ganol (SH 626 394) 

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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Garth Ganol (SH 626 394)

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, with the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and the list 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 Moelwynion 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 A487 road to its north-west and the A496 road to its south-east, and has the town of Penrhyndeudraeth towards the west. 

The hill appeared in the original 30-99m Welsh P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Bryn Dwyryd, which is a prominent name that appears close to this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps.

Bryn Dwyryd

75m

SH626395

124

18

 

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 Bryn Dwyryd presumed to be that of the hill, when it is a name of a house.  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. 

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 1433 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 Garth Ganol in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parishes of Llanfihangel-y-traethau and Llandecwyn and in the county named as Merioneth. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Garth Ganol and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Moelwynion 

Name:  Garth Ganol

Previously Listed Name:  Bryn Dwyryd 

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Height:  75.6m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 62600 39430 (LIDAR)               

Bwlch Height:  27.7m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 62671 40069 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  47.8m (LIDAR) 

Dominance:  63.30% (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2021)