Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

 

Ugain (SO 126 320 & SO 127 320) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, 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 Ugain (SO 126 320 & SO 127 320)

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are: 

200m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 200m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m 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 200m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Epynt group of hills, which are situated in the central part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned enclosed by minor roads, with the A470 road farther to its north-west and the B4560 road and A479 road farther to its east, and has the town of Talgarth towards the north-east. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the invented and transposed name of Moel Meiadd, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the South.

Moel Meiadd

243m

SO127320

161

12

Name from wood 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 near wood and prefix it with the word Moel.  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 609 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 Ekan [sic] in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Talgarth and in the county named as Brecon. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Ugain and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Epynt

Name:  Ugain

Previously Listed Name:  Moel Meiadd   

OS 1:50,000 map:  161

Summit Height:  243.0m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 12694 32007 & SO 12698 32008 & SO 12700 32007 & SO 12699 32004 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  212.1m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 12214 32682 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  30.8m (LIDAR) 

 

My thanks to Gwyn Jones and Richard Morgan for advice in relation to this name, with the following detail given: 

Gwyn Jones: (The acreage is documented as) 19, so 20 (ugain) may have been a previous estimate.  The ai>a and g>c are both SE Wales dialect features. 

Richard Morgan:  South Wales u sounds like English ee.  That’s the trouble with historical spellings.  They don’t always lend themselves to standardisation or identification. 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2022)