Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Fours – The 400m Hills of England

Cefn Bach (SO 270 390) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England, with the summit height, col height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams and Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Cefn Bach (SO 270 390) 

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are:

The Fours – The 400m Hills of England.  English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list is a sub list entitled the Sub-Fours, the criteria for which are all English hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 15m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillipsand Aled Williams and is available to download in Google Doc format from the Mapping Mountains site.

The Fours - The 400m Hills of England by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The hill is adjoined to the Waun Fach group of hills, which are situated in the county of Herefordshire close to the Welsh border, and it is positioned with minor roads to its north-east and south-west, and the B4348 road farther to its north, and has the town of Y Gelli Gandryll (Hay-on-Wye) towards the north-west. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger map

When the listing that later became known as the The Fours – The 400m Hills of England was first compiled this hill appeared under the name of Cefn Hill, which is a prominent name that appears beside the summit of the hill on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.  And it was this name that the hill was listed as when the 1^st edition of the list was published by Europeaklist in December 2013 and when the 2^nd edition of the list was published by Mapping Mountains Publications in April 2018. 

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

The intricacies of language and prioritising one in favour of another for listing a hill is fraught with complication, with originating Cymraeg names being anglicised and also originating English names being cymricised, examples such as these are more common in border country and especially so for anglicised forms.  There is no steadfast rule that fits all, but as a standard a name that has its origins in the Welsh language and where this is substantiated by either historic documentation and/or contemporary usage should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or part or whole English version of the name.

The listed name of this hill was reviewed by Aled Williams for the July 2024 publication of this list by Mapping Mountains and was subsequently altered with the following appearing in the Notes section accompanying its listing:

Name is documented in numerous sources as Cefn Bach up until at the least the mid-19^th century, although Cefn Hill may now be the local form in use.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in The Fours - The 400m Hills of England is Cefn Bach and this was derived from a numer of documented sources up until at least the mid-19^th century.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Waun Fach

Name:  Cefn Bach

Previously Listed Name:  Cefn Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  161

Summit Height:  487.4m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 27090 39063 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  422.4m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 26671 38084 (LIDAR)

Drop:  65.0m (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2024)