BBC Cymru Fyw - Chwarel Graig Ddu

BBC Cymru Fyw recently published an article on the discovery of a new 2,000ft mountain top in Wales.  The original article and a link to it on the BBC Cymru Fyw website appear below.

 

 

Darganfod mynydd newydd ‘unigryw’ mewn chwarel yn Eryri

Iolo Cheung
Gohebydd BBC Cymru

 

Mae'r copa newydd yn gorwedd yn Chwarel Graig Ddu uwchben tref Blaenau Ffestiniog 

Mae cerddwr a tirfesurwr profiadol yn dweud ei fod wedi dod o hyd i fynydd newydd yn ardal Blaenau Ffestiniog, Eryri.

 

Cafodd y copa newydd ei asesu gan Myrddyn Phillips a'i ffrind, wedi wedi iddyn nhw sylweddoli arno o edrych ar fapiau topograffeg.

 

Mae'r copa yn gorwedd yn chwarel Graig Ddu uwchben y dref, ac fe gafodd ei greu yn dilyn gwaith ar y safle.

 

Yn ôl Mr Phillips mae'n "unigryw" felly yng Nghymru, fel yr unig gopa dros 2,000 troedfedd sydd wedi'i greu o waith pobl yn hytrach na bod yn un naturiol.

 

Mae Mr Phillips, sy'n byw yn Y Trallwng, yn mapio mynyddoedd ers blynyddoedd, ac wedi ‘darganfod’ sawl copa newydd eisoes wrth wneud.

 

Dywedodd fod y darganfyddiad diweddaraf wedi dod ar ôl i'w ffrind sylwi ar raddiant y mynydd mewn map ar-lein.

 

"Mae'r map ar-lein oedd yn dangos y copa newydd wedi profi'n gywir sawl gwaith, felly fe aethon ni ati i ymweld â bryniau cyfagos ers mwyn cadarnhau ei statws," meddai.

 

Mae Myrddyn Phillips yn dweud bod y copa'n un 'unigryw' fel yr unig un dros 2,000 troedfedd sydd wedi'i greu o waith pobl yn hytrach na bod yn un naturiol

Y gred yw, meddai, fod y copa newydd wedi cael ei ffurfio wedi i waith cloddio yn y chwarel ddyfnhau'r bwlch rhwng brig y chwarel a chopa gogleddol Manod Mawr.

 

Roedd hynny'n golygu bod y copa'n gymwys i gael ei ystyried fel mynydd, gan ei fod yn 613m o uchder a bod y bwlch i'r copa nesaf yn disgyn 21m.

 

Mae felly yn cyrraedd y gofynion sy'n cael eu defnyddio yn rhestr Welsh Highlands ar gyfer mynydd (610m+, disgyniad o 15m+ cyn y copa nesaf) o drwch blewyn.

 

"I raddau mae pob mynydd a bryn yng Nghymru yn unigryw, ond mae rhai yn sefyll allan," meddai.

 

"Er bod nifer o gopaon a thopiau yng Nghymru wedi eu creu gan waith chwareli a chloddio, hyd y gwn i dyma'r cyntaf sydd wedi'i ganfod sydd dros 2,000 troedfedd.

 

"Felly mae'n wahanol iawn i unrhyw beth arall yn y wlad, ac mae wastad yn dda i ddarganfod copaon mynyddoedd fel hyn. Mae'n ychwanegu at ba mor gywir ydi'n rhestrau ni o fryniau."

 

Cafodd gwaith ei wneud Chwarel Graig Ddu a dyna sut ffurfiwyd y copa newydd

Er bod Mr Phillips yn cydnabod fod gan rai pobl ddiffiniad gwahanol, neu gwestiynu a yw'r copa newydd yn edrych fel mynydd 'go iawn', mae'n hapus fod y darganfyddiad newydd yn un dilys.

 

"Dros sawl blwyddyn o gerdded bryniau Cymru dwi wedi canfod fod y disgyniad o 15m+ yn fesuriad sy'n gweithio'n dda ar gyfer [mesur mynyddoedd yn] ucheldiroedd Cymru," meddai.

 

Ychwanegodd bod nifer o esiamplau ar draws Cymru o fryniau newydd yn cael eu creu o waith diwydiannol, ac nad yw hynny'n golygu na ddylen nhw gael eu hystyried.

 

"Ond does dim un o'r rhain dros 2,000 troedfedd fel mae Chwarel Graig Ddu," meddai.

 

"Mae rhai pobl yn gweld y copaon hyn fel rhai artiffisial ac felly'n eu diystyru nhw o unrhyw restrau. Ond rydyn ni'n fwy sympathetig yn ein rhestrau ni ac yn eu cynnwys os ydyn nhw'n gadarn, sefydlog ac yn cwrdd a'r gofynion.

 

"Oherwydd ymyrraeth ddynol maen nhw'n bodoli, felly 'dyn ni'n portreadu eu bodolaeth."

 

Yn ogystal a'i waith ar fynyddoedd, roedd Myrddyn Phillips hefyd yn rhan o ymdrechion I fesur Ffordd Pen Llech yn Harlech er mwyn iddi gael ei chofnodi’n swyddogol fel y stryd fwyaf serth yn y byd.

 

Ond fe barodd y statws hwnnw lain na blwyddyn wedi I’r ffordd wreiddiol, Baldwin Street yn Dunedin, Seland Newydd, ailgipio’r fraint yn 2020.

 

 

 

For the original article published on the BBC Cymru Fyw website 

Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

 

Parc Pal (SN 354 246) 

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 Parc Pal (SN 354 246)

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 that have 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 Pencarreg group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the A484 road farther to its north-east, the B4299 road farther to its west and the B4298 and A40 roads father to its south, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the south-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 Banc y Maes y Deri, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the North-West.

Banc y Maes y Deri

227m

SN355246

145/159

185

Name from buildings to the North-West.

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 farm and add the words Banc-y- to it.  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 691 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 Parc Pal in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Abernant and in the county named as Carmarthen. 

Extract from the apportionments

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

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg

Name:  Parc Pal

Previously Listed Name:  Banc y Maes y Deri

OS 1:50,000 map:  145, 159

Summit Height:  227.2m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 35443 24619 & SN 35456 24637 & SN 35458 24640 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  198.6m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 37285 25364 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  28.6m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Ffridd (SJ 164 212) 

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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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, 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 Foel Cedig group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the B4396 road farther to its north, the B4580 road farther to its west, the A490 road farther to its south and the B4393 road farther to its south-east, and has the town of Llanfyllin towards the south-west.

The hill appeared in the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Llechwedd-ddu, which is a prominent name that appears to the south of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Llechwedd-ddu

329m

SJ165212

125

239

 

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 farm and use it for that of the hill.  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 57 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 in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanfechain and in the county named as Montgomery. 

Extract from the apportionments

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

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Foel Cedig 

Name:  Ffridd 

Previously Listed Name:  Llechwedd-ddu 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125 

Summit Height:  329m (spot height)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 16492 21249 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH) 

Bwlch Height:  276m (spot height) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 15842 21559 (spot height) 

Drop:  53m (spot height summit and bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)

 

 

Grough - Chwarel Graig Ddu

 

Grough Article

Grough recently published an article on the discovery of a new 2,000ft mountain top in Wales.  The original article and a link to it on the Grough website appear below.

Mapping sleuth work uncovers Wales's unlikely 'last 2,000ft mountain'

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams
Thursday 05 May 2022 04:45 PM GMT

 

Why do we climb hills and mountains? For some, following George Mallory’s quip ‘because it’s there’ is reason enough. Others love to follow a tick list of peaks to bag, hence the preponderance of hill lists.

And some devote their hillwalking days and map-gazing evenings searching for new additions to lists. Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams have been doing just that, and have come up a new contender.

Some may baulk at the new peak’s inclusion and it’s doubtful many will be heading to its summit, for obvious reasons but, unusual though it may be, the pair argue that the 2,000-footer warrants inclusion on hill lists ‘because it’s there’.

Here’s their take on the matter.

The summit of Chwarel Graig Ddu

As with most things in life, what seems a simple matter can become more complicated as detail is examined. The categories of hill classification and what constitutes a summit and also a col is no different. One may imagine that this categorisation is a simple affair. For example, if a hill qualifies under the stipulated minimum height and minimum drop; it then qualifies for the respective list. However, added detail can be all important.

This added detail can include such things as road and rail cuttings that alter heights at connecting cols, or transversely it can include raised roads passing over cols. Summits are also affected. Man has a habit of terra-forming landscapes, and mining and quarrying activity can create all manner of wonderful anomalies for the hill-lister to consider.

Myrddyn Phillips has surveyed many of Britain's mountains

The quarrying activities that terra-form tops take the form of two main categories; the first is when waste spoil from mining creates a large lump of a hill that is high enough with sufficient drop to enter a list. The second is when quarrying activity removes a chunk of hillside leaving a newly created summit. It is this second category that the newly discovered 2,000ft Welsh peak is a part of.

Not everyone is enamoured by these man-made hills. Some people dismiss them but others view them as now being a part of the landscape. Simply put; they exist, so why not portray their existence by including them in a hill list provided the designated criteria are met.

Much numerical data is dependent upon online mapping or Lidar. The latter stands for light detection and ranging. This technique produces highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales. However, Lidar does not cover the whole of the country, including our hill of interest; therefore we were reliant upon online mapping.

Over recent years there has been a great swathe of mapping made available online, including Ordnance Survey-based maps depicting 5m contours for the whole of Great Britain. Crucially, this resource also provides the current-day topography for quarried areas, and it was the study of this mapping that led to the discovery of a new 2,000ft mountain top in Wales.

The newly discovered top is positioned above Blaenau Ffestiniog in north-west Wales and is a part of the Chwarel Graig Ddu quarry. All that was now required was an inspection to confirm the existence of the new hill, which 5m contouring shows to have an uppermost 610m ring contour and col contouring between 590m and 595m.

The pair have examined the hill from neighbouring land

This inspection was carried out in early 2022 and confirmed the existence of the Chwarel Graig Ddu top. The top was inspected from the adjacent hillsides and with a quarry road passing over its high point, it is obviously solid and stable and not just a pile of debris that moves on a daily basis. Here are the details of the top:

Chwarel Graig Ddu

Summit: 613m (SH 725 455)

Bwlch: 592m (SH 724 457)

Drop: 21m

All objective hill lists have set criteria. One that we have extensively written about on the Mapping Mountains site is named The Welsh Highlands; this list has qualifying criteria of a minimum 500m in height and a minimum drop of 15m. As such, we have now included Chwarel Graig Ddu in our Welsh Highlands list and for those people who enjoy their Welsh mountain tops to be at and above 2,000ft (609.6m) in height with 15m minimum drop, this peak also qualifies under these criteria and it could well be the last of the Welsh 2,000-footers to be discovered.

 

 

For the original article published on the Grough website 

 

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – 200m Twmpau

 

Parc Pal (SN 354 246) – 200m Twmpau reclassified to 200m Sub-Twmpau

There has been a reclassification to the list of 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 Parc Pal (SN 354 246)

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

200m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in height that have 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 name the hill is now listed by is Parc Pal and this was derived from the Tithe map, and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Pencarreg group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the A484 road farther to its north-east, the B4299 road farther to its west and the B4298 and A40 roads father to its south, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the south-east.

When the original 200m 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 main 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 227m summit spot height adjoined to a triangulation pillar that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 198m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 5m contouring between 195m – 200m. 

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 228m summit spot height and when coupled with the estimated c 198m bwlch height, these values gave this hill an estimated c 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 reclassification of this hill to 200m Sub-Twmpau status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 227.2m summit height and a 198.6m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 28.6m of drop, which is insufficient for it to be classified as a 200m Twmpau. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg 

Name:  Parc Pal 

OS 1:50,000 map:  145, 159

Summit Height:  227.2m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 35443 24619 & SN 35456 24637 & SN 35458 24640 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  198.6m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 37285 25364 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  28.6m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)