Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

 

Cefn (SH 721 004) 

There has been confirmation of a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m 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 Cefn (SH 721 004)

The criteria for the two listings 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. 

100m 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 Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Tarren y Gesail group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A493 road to its north and the A487 road to its south, and has the town of Machynlleth towards the east.

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill appeared under the transposed name of Cefn, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the North-West.

Cefn

110c

SH722004

135

23

Five points of same height. Name from buildings to the North-West.

 

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 the 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

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 508 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 a part of the farm of Cefn in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Pennal and in the county named as Merioneth. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is listed by in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cefn, and this was derived from the Tithe map.  Although the listed name of this hill remains unchanged, it is worth documenting that the Tithe confirms where its summit is situated as being a part of the lands associated with the farm of Cefn, whereas in its original listing this was based on convenience and transposing. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Tarren y Gesail

Name:  Cefn

Previously Listed Name:  Cefn   

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

Summit Height:  118.2m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 72126 00402 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  59.0m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 72569 00795 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  59.2m (LIDAR) 

Dominance:  50.08% (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2024)