Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Rhos Uchaf (SN 391 252) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Rhos Uchaf (SN 391 252)

The criteria for the two listings 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

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and the list is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format. 

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales 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 the A484 road to its north and a minor road to its south, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) 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 Foel-fawr, which is a prominent name that appears to the north of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and applies to land that does not take in the summit of the hill.

Allt Foel-fawr

238m

SN391253

145

185

Clem/Yeaman. Trig pillar.

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 327 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 Rhos Ucha in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Newchurch and in the county named as Carmarthenshire. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Rhos Uchaf, and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg

Name:  Rhos Uchaf

Previously Listed Name:  Allt Foel-fawr   

OS 1:50,000 map:  145

Summit Height:  237.8m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 39138 25287 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  150.5m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 35227 26322 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  87.3m (LIDAR) 

Dominance:  36.73% (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)