Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

 

Cefn Uchaf (SJ 249 402) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and 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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main Y Pedwarau list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being listed in the 390m Double Sub-Pedwar category.  The criteria for 390m Double Sub-Pedwar status being all Welsh hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

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, and the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of the list appearing on the 1^st January 2022. 

Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Craig Berwyn group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads with the A5 road farther to its north and the B4500 road farther to its south, and has the town of Llangollen towards the west north-west. 

When the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for this sub category. 

After the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-assessed and it was listed under the point (Pt. 395m) notation with an estimated c 21m of drop, based on the 395m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map and an estimated c 374m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 370m – 375m, with the 395m summit height also given on the interactive mapping hosted on the WalkLakes website. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey 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 are current and digitally updated such as the old Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map and the interactive mapping available on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  Two of the historic maps now available online are the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the first publicly available Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is these maps that form the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill. 

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Survey surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced from these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that names the hill as Cefn Uchaf. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map was the first map that Ordnance Survey produced, and their publication culminated from the whole of Britain being surveyed between 1791 and 1874 and the detail gathered therein produced at a scale of one inch to the mile and published in sheet format between 1805 and 1874.  The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ maps for the whole of Wales are now available online; they are also available in map format as enlarged and re-projected versions to match the scale and dimensions of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series and are published by Cassini.  This series of maps form another important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names and bridge the timeframe leading up to the production of the Ordnance Survey base map of the Six-Inch series, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that also gives the name of Cefn Uchaf. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales and Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Cefn Uchaf, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map and the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Craig Berwyn 

Name:  Cefn Uchaf 

Previously Listed Name:  Pt. 395m 

OS 1:50,000 map:  117 

Summit Height:  395m (spot height)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 24921 40228 (spot height) 

Bwlch Height:  c 374 (interpolation) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 24502 40242 (interpolation) 

Drop:  c 21m (spot height summit and interpolated bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (April 2022)