Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – 30-99m Twmpau

Pen Lan Fawr (SN 626 222) – 30-99m Sub-Twmpau reclassified to 30-99m Twmpau 

There has been confirmation of a reclassification to the list of 30-99m 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 Pen Lan Fawr (SN 626 222)

The criteria for the list that this reclassification applies to are:

30-99m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height that have 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

The name the hill is listed by is Pen Lan Fawr and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Mallaen group of hills, which are situated in the central part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north, the Afon Tywi to its south and the A483 road to its east, and has the town of Llandeilo towards the north-east.

When the original 30-99m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for the P30 category.

When the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-evaluated and it was listed with an estimated c 29m of drop, based on the 95m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 66m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 60m – 70m. 

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

Since the original publication of the Welsh P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of 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 were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.

The details for this hill were re-assessed when the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map became available online.  This mapping had many spot heights not on other publicly available Ordnance Survey maps and for this hill it had a 65m bwlch spot height, and when coupled with the 95m summit spot height these values gave this hill 30m of drop.

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales.

Therefore, the confirmation of the reclassification of this hill from 30-99m Sub-Twmpau status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 98.3m summit height and a 64.9m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 33.4m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified as a 30-99m Twmpau. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Mynydd Mallaen 

Name:  Pen Lan Fawr 

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Height:  98.3m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 62626 22229 (LIDAR)               

Bwlch Height:  64.9m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 61761 22561 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  33.4m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2022)