Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Pen y Ddinas (SN 627 357) 

There has been a Summit Relocation 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 Pen y Ddinas (SN 627 357)

The criteria for the two listings that this summit relocation 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 Myrddy Phillips

The name the hill is listed by is Pen y Ddinas 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 with a minor road to its north, the B4337 road to its south-west and the B4302 road to its east, and has the village of Llansawel towards the north-west.

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was listed with a c 200m summit height based on the uppermost contour on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

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 53m drop, based on an estimated c 207m summit height and an estimated c 154m bwlch height, with both heights based on interpolation of 10m contouring that appear on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.  The summit height was subsequently re-evaluated and listed as an estimated c 203m positioned at SN 62927 35808. 

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

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. 

LIDAR summit image of Pen y Ddinas (SN 627 357)

The summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 230.9m and is positioned at SN 62756 35746, and this comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies to when the high point is positioned in a different field, to a different feature such as a conifer plantation, within a different map contour, a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary or covered reservoir that is considered a relatively recent man-made construct, or a relocation of approximately 100 metres or more in distance from either the position of a map spot height or from where the summit of the hill was previously thought to exist.

Therefore, the summit height produced by LIDAR analysis is 230.9m and this is positioned at SN 62756 35746, this position is not given a spot height on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps, and is approximately 170 metres westward from where the previously listed summit is positioned.  

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg

Name:  Pen y Ddinas

OS 1:50,000 map:  146

Summit Height:  230.9m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SN 62756 35746 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  153.2m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 62239 35477 (LIDAR)

Drop:  77.7m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  33.63% (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2022)