Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

Banc Mawr (SN 423 579) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m 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: 

100m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 100m Sub-Twmpau, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m 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 100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Bach group of hills, which are situated in the western part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north, the B4342 road to its west and the A487 road to its east, and has the town of Ceinewydd (New Quay) towards the north-west.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Allt Cefn-maes-llan, which is a prominent name that appears to the north-east of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and does not necessarily apply to land where the summit is situated.

Allt Cefn-maes-llan

148m

SN423579

146

198

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 a name that appeared on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and presume it 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 J44 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 Mawr in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llannarth and in the county named as Cardigan. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Banc Mawr, and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Bach

Name:  Banc Mawr

Previously Listed Name:  Allt Cefn-maes-llan   

OS 1:50,000 map:  146

Summit Height:  148m (spot height) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 42314 57937 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH) 

Bwlch Height:  117m (spot height) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 42110 57490 (spot height) 

Drop:  31m (spot height summit and bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2023)