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

Waun Llwyd (SJ 003 165) 

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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Waun Llwyd (SJ 003 165)

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 Esgeiriau Gwynion group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north and east, and has the village of Llanwddyn towards the north-east.

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-evaluated and it was listed as Moel Achles, which is a prominent name that appears close to the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

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.

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 91 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 Waun Llwyd in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llangadfan 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 Waun Llwyd and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Esgeiriau Gwynion 

Name:  Waun Llwyd 

Previously Listed Name:  Moel Achles 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125 

Summit Height:  367.4m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 00323 16521 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  345.2m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 00193 16719 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  22.2m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)