Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

Gravel Pit Field (SJ 233 171)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau, and the following details are in respect of a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 8^th August 2015.

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

100m Twmpau - All Welsh hills at and above 100m and below 200m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.

The hill is a part of the Carnedd Wen range, which is an extensive group of hills situated in the southern part of north Wales.  It is situated in the district known as Deuddwr and is positioned between the small communities of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain to the north, Llanymynech to the north-east, Four Crosses to the east north-east and Ardd-lin (Arddleen) to the south-east.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Gravel Pit Field

The hill appeared in the 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Ty-Top.  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, use the name of what was presumed to be a near house.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with research either conducted locally or historically an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.  

Ty-Top

154m

SJ233172

126

240

 

The name this hill is now listed by is Gravel Pit Field, and this was derived from 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 lay of land as it is today on the map on the right to be compared against the lay of land as it was during the time of the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of Gravel Pit Field is situated is given the number 1521 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 Gravel Pit Field on the Tithe map and is described as Arable; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Llansanffraid ym Mechain. 

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Gravel Pit Field

Please note; this is the second consecutive entry under the Significant Name Changes heading that has detailed a hill with the name of Gravel Pit Field, to complicate matters both hills were surveyed on the same day and both appear in the same survey post on this site.  However, they are different hills.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carnedd Wen

Name:  Gravel Pit Field

Previously Listed Name:  Ty-Top 

Summit Height:  153.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  126

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 23345 17175 

 

Drop:  37m

For details on the survey of Gravel Pit Field

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2016)