Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – 100m Twmpau

 

Parc y Lan (SN 454 156) 

There has been a Summit Relocation 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 LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Parc y Lan (SN 454 156)

The criteria for the list that this summit relocation 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.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward. 

100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The name the hill is now listed by is Parc y Lan and this was derived from the Tithe map, and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Sylen group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B5), and it is positioned with the A48 road to its north and the B4306 road to its south-west, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the north-west.

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for this sub category.

After the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-assessed and it was listed with 26m of drop, based on the 148m summit spot height positioned at SN 45430 15677 that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and the 122m bwlch spot height that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map. 

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

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales.

LIDAR analysis gives the highest ground on this hill as 149.0m positioned at SN 45438 15702.  However, this is to the top of a raised field boundary and protocols dictate that as this is deemed a relatively recent man-made construct such ground is discounted from the height of a hill. 

LIDAR summit image of Parc y Lan (SN 454 156)

The height produced by LIDAR analysis to the natural summit of this hill is 148.5m and is positioned at SN 45458 15666 and SN 45457 15664, and this comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies when the high point of the hill is found to be positioned; in a different field, to a different feature such as in a conifer plantation,  within a different map contour either on Ordnance Survey maps or interactive mapping, to a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit of a hill is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary or covered reservoir that is considered a relatively recent man-made construct, or a relocation of approximately 100 metres or more in distance from either the position of a map spot height or from where the summit of the hill was previously thought to exist.

Therefore, the height produced by LIDAR analysis to the natural summit of this hill is 148.5m and is positioned at SN 45458 15666 and SN 45457 15664, this is relatively close to where the spot height appears, and is approximately 38 metres south-eastward from the high point of the raised field boundary. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Mynydd Sylen 

Name:  Parc y Lan 

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Height:  148.5m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SN 45458 15666 & SN 45457 15664 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  123.7m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 46262 16790 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  24.9m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2024)