Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Cae’r Faen Mynach (SN 765 003) 

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 produced by Joe Nuttall in his surface analysis programme, with subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by the DoBIH team and independently by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Cae'r Faen Mynach (SN 765 003)

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 Fan Fawr group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B5), and it is positioned with a minor road to its west, the A474 road farther to its west, the A4230 and A465 roads to its south and the A4109 road to its east, and has the village of Aberdulais towards the south-east. 

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

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Craig y Gigfran, which is a prominent name that appears to the north of the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Craig y Gigfran

234m

SN765003

170

165

Trig pillar at 202m to the South

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.  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 Tithe 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 apportionments

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 2220 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 Cae’r Faen Mynach in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llangatwg and in the county named as Glamorgan. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Extract from the Tithe map superimposed over the Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Cae’r Faen Mynach, and this was derived from the Tithe map and this is preferred to the name of Craig y Gigfran, as although this is one of the main named features of the hill the name is specific to land that does not incorporate the summit as evidenced by the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps positioning it against steep ground to the north north-east of the summit and the Tithe map which names this enclosed land as Graig.  Therefore, the name given to the enclosed land incorporating the summit is prioritised over the land name given to a specific feature that is not at the summit. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Fan Fawr

Name:  Cae’r Faen Mynach

Previously Listed Name:  Craig y Gigfran   

OS 1:50,000 map:  170

Summit Height:  237.6m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 76549 00356 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  207.0m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 75759 01169 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  30.6m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2023)