Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Banc y Defaid (SN 528 331) 

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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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 with a minor road to its west and east, and the B4310 road to its south-east, and has the small community of Brechfa towards the south.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Allt Hendre-Fadog, with an accompanying note stating; aka Allt y Garth.  Both of these names appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and are positioned to the south and east of the summit of the hill respectively, with the Tithe map indicating that each name does not apply to land where the summit of this hill is situated.

Allt Hendre-Fadog

247m

SN528331

146

186

aka Allt y Garth

 

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. 

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 243 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 Banc y Defaid in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanfihangel Rhos-y-corn 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 Banc y Defaid and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg

Name:  Banc y Defaid

Previously Listed Name:  Allt Hendre-Fadog   

OS 1:50,000 map:  146

Summit Height:  247m (spot height) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 52826 33132 (spot height) 

Bwlch Height:  c 222m (interpolation) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 52554 33308 (interpolation) 

Drop:  c 25m (spot height summit and interpolated bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)