Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30m-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales

Moelfre (SH 558 375)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that appears in the following lists; 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the hill's height, drop, dominance and status being confirmed by the survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 which took place on the 23^rd February 2016, and which confirmed the adjacent easterly summit positioned at SH 56181 37683 as being lower. 

The criteria for the two listings that this name change applies to are:
   
30-99m Twmpau - All Welsh hills at and above 30m and below 100m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales - These are the Welsh P30 hills whose prominence  equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those addition Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is 33% or more and below 50% of their absolute height.

The hill is a part of the Moel Hebog range, which is a group of hills situated in the north-western part of north Wales, and it is positioned between the small communities of Morfa Bychan to the west and Borth-y-gest to the east south-east.

The westerly summit of Moelfre (SH 558 375)

The hill appeared in the 30m-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name Coed Borth.  This name was found through local enquiry with Dewi Jones and at a later date confirmed by Aled Williams; a resident and native of Porthmadog respectively.  As Ordnance Survey maps of the day did not give a spot height to the westerly summit, it was the easterly summit with its 72m map spot height that was listed, both have now been Trimbled with the westerly summit proving higher. 

Coed Borth

72m

SH561376

124

18/254

    

During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on a map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are inappropriate, and Coed Borth is such an example as although this is the locally known name for the wood close to the easterly summit of this hill, it doesn’t take in the actual summit, whilst the same wood has been consistently named as Parc y Borth on Ordnance Survey maps.  However, Aled has confirmed that the higher westerly top and its adjacent easterly lower top are locally and collectively known as Moelfre. 

Before enquiring with Aled I checked 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.

Accessing information on the Tithe map is simplified by the use of a split screen enabling the summit to be pinpointed on the map on the right and for the same point to appear on the Tithe map on the left

The name where the summit of this hill is situated is named Moelvra on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 920 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 Moelvra [sic] on the Tithe map and described as Pasture; it appears in the county named as Caernarfon and in the parish of Ynyscynhaearn.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by is Moelfre (spelling conforming to standard modern Welsh), and this was derived from local enquiry, as well as the land where the summit of this hill is situated being confirmed by the use of the same name on the Tithe map. 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Moel Hebog

Name:  Moelfre

Previously Listed Name:  Coed Borth

 

Summit Height:  74.1m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 55830 37553  

Drop:  36.3m (converted to OSGM15)

Dominance:  49.00%

For details on the survey of Moelfre

Myrddyn Phillips (October 2016)

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Moelfre (SH 558 375) - Dominant reclassified to Lesser Dominant

There has been a reclassification from the listing of Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales due to a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 and which has resulted in the hill being taken out of the Dominant list and included in the Lesser Welsh Dominant list.  The hill is in the Group known as Moel Hebog and is situated to the south-west of Porthmadog, overlooking the coast and above the small community of Borth-y-gest.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey that resulted in this hill’s reclassification was conducted on the 23^rd February 2016 on a beautiful winter’s morning in sunny conditions.

The hill can be accessed from its west, east, south and north, with my two visits starting from the south and north respectively.  Access to mid-way up the hill can be gained via public footpaths but the high point is not on open access land, so permission to visit should be sought.

The hill remains unnamed on current Ordnance Survey maps but local enquiry with Aled Williams; a native of Porthmadog, confirms that the hill is known locally as Moelfre.

The hill had been listed with 50.00% of Dominance and was therefore included in the main Dominant list.  This was based on it having a 74m summit spot height on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website and an estimated bwlch height of c 37m based on bwlch contouring between 35m – 40m, these values gave the hill a prominence of c 37m, which was enough for it to sneak into the main Dominant list.

The survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 resulted in a 74.1m (74.056m, converted to OSGM15) summit height and a 37.8m (37.770m, converted to OSGM15) bwlch height, giving this hill a Dominance of only 49.00% and confirming its reclassification from The Dominant Hills of Wales list to The Lesser Welsh Dominant list.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Moel Hebog

Name:  Moelfre

Dominance:  49.00%

OS 1:50,000 map:  124

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 55830 37553

Summit Height:  74.1m (converted to OSGM15)

Drop Summit to Bwlch:  36.3m

Drop Bwlch to ODN:  37.8m (converted to OSGM15)  

Moelfre (SH 558 375) now reclassified to the Lesser Welsh Dominant list

For details on the survey that resulted in this hill being reclassified to a Lesser Welsh Dominant hill please click {here}

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2016)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Moel Hebog

23.02.16  Moelfre (SH 561 376) and Moelfre (SH 558 375)  

The lower easterly summit of Moelfre (SH 561 376) with the high Moelwynion beyond

With a forecast of early morning frost and dry conditions I headed toward Porthmadog with a plan to tidy up a few past surveys.  I hoped to visit four places in all, with some surveys involving summits and others just bylchau.  With the first planned survey taking in the two summits of Moelfre, a hill whose name was found through local enquiry with Aled Williams; a native of Porthmadog.  The summit position of this hill has changed in recent times due to a 74m spot height appearing on its westerly top on the Ordnance Survey enlarged map on the Geograph website.  The top that has been replaced has a 72m spot height on it and lies just to the east and the land where its summit is situated is named Cae Bach on the Tithe map, although the hill taking in this easterly summit is still known locally as a part of Morlfre, both summits needed Trimbling.

I parked at the bwlch on the grass verge beside a ladder stile and gate giving access to a track heading toward a Lama Centre, one or two of these animals could be seen munching away as I gathered all my stuff and walked down the road to a gate which gave access on to a field.

Plodding up the field the sun shone bright highlighting the frost still evident on the higher Eryri peaks.  I aimed for the easterly summit first and carefully clambered over a wall as the summit came in to view.  This comprises grass beside large clumps of gorse.  Having set the Trimble up I stood back and waited for it to gather its allotted five minutes of data.

Gathering data at the easterly summit of Moelfre with the higher westerly summit of Moelfre in the background

As I packed the Trimble away there was spring warmth in the air and the sea sparkled toward the west.  Backtracking over the wall I descended to the connecting bwlch and again gathered five minutes of data.  When on my own I try and survey everything that I can, and this connecting bwlch is an example of this philosophy as the easterly summit of Moelfre stands an outside chance of becoming a Sub-Twmpau.  With an expensive bit of surveying kit that gives accurate results I want to produce as much data as I can, and that means bylchau such as this should be surveyed.

Beyond the bwlch was the 74m spot heighted summit of Moelfre, it was only a short walk to the high point, which is immersed just inside a large growth of gorse.  Outside the gorse was another high point which was visually lower, but as the human eye can be rather deceptive where judging height is concerned I decided to survey both points.

Gathering data at the westerly summit of Moelfre

A lovely place to spend a couple of hours on a winter's morning

Once data were gathered I headed down to the gate and walked back beside the road to my car and the connecting bwlch for the higher of the two summits.  When I had first arrived I’d had a quick look at the lay of land at this bwlch and thought it hard to judge where the critical point lay, but when I walked back to it, the valley to valley traverse was easily followed to its high point, and the hill to hill connection likewise.  However, the critical bwlch is positioned beside a solid stone wall which has a ladder stile giving access to a track.  I positioned the Trimble on top of my rucksack which was sitting on top of the wall and measured a 1.78m offset between the internal antenna and the ground.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of the higher of the two summits of Moelfre

Once five minutes of data were gathered I packed the Trimble away and drove back to Porthmadog and continued on the A 497 toward the bwlch of Moel y Gadair (SH 521 391), which is positioned to the south-west of the small community of Pentrefelin.

I’d surveyed the summit of Moel y Gadair in June of last year and had fun trying to assess where its critical bwlch was positioned.  I know knew where the Trimble should be set up and also suspected that the hill could be deleted from the ranks of P30s.  

Survey Result:

Moelfre (significant name change)

Summit Height:  73.3m (converted to OSGM15, and lower summit confirmed)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 56181 37683

Bwlch Height:  54.8m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 56018 37592

Drop:  18.5m (non 30–99m Sub-Twmpau status confirmed)

Dominance:  25.26%

Moelfre (significant name change)

Summit Height:  74.1m (converted to OSGM15, and higher summit confirmed)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 55830 37553

Bwlch Height:  37.8m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 55625 37768

Drop:  36.3m

Dominance:  49.00% (Dominant reclassified to Lesser Dominant) 

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}