Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

 

Mynydd Bach Brechfa (SN 520 286) 

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 Mynydd Bach Brechfa (SN 520 286)

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. 

200m Twmpau 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 B4310 road to its north and west, and a minor road to its immediate south-east, and has the village of Brechfa towards the north north-east.

The hill appeared in the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Gilfach-y-rhiw, with an accompanying note stating: Name from buildings to the North.

Gilfach-y-rhiw

294m

SN521286

146

186

Name from buildings to the North

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 of a farm and use it for 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

Since the original publication of the Welsh P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps that form the basis of the change in the listed name of this hill.

The Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps formed the base map Ordnance Survey used for many decades leading to the production of the 1:10,000 Series of maps, both have now been superseded by the digitised Master Map.  The series of Six-Inch maps are excellent for name placement and especially so compared to the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and it is the series of Six-Inch maps that position the name of Mynydd Bach Brechfa close to the summit of this hill.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

This name also appears against this hill on the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, available on the National Library of Wales website giving access to the Tithe maps and a screen grab of this is also shown below.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map hosted on the National Library Of Wales website for the Tithe maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Mynydd Bach Brechfa and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Prencarreg

Name:  Mynydd Bach Brechfa

Previously Listed Name:  Gilfach-y-rhiw   

OS 1:50,000 map:  146

Summit Height:  296.1m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 52039 28618 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  223.7m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 51351 28147 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  72.3m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2024)