Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales

Mynydd Coch (SH 804 099)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips and assisted by Graham Jackson and LIDAR bwlch analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

Mynydd Coch (SH 804 099)

The criteria for the list that this name change affects are:

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are five categories of sub hills; 500m Sub-Pedwarau, 500m Double Sub-Pedwarau, 400m Sub-Pedwarau, 390m Sub-Pedwarau and the 390m Double Sub-Pedwarau.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The hill is adjoined to the Aran Fawddwy group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region C1, Sub-Region C1B), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north, the A487 road to its west and the A470 to its east, and has the small community of Aberllefenni towards the west.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 400m P30 list compiled by Myrddyn Phillips and published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Mynydd Cwmcelli, which is a prominent name that appears approximately 1km west north-westward of the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and is consistently placed on Ordnance Survey maps applicable to a 408m map heighted hill whose summit is positioned at SH 795 101.

Mynydd Cwmcelli

469m

SH804099

124/125

23/215

Marilyn. Clem/Yeaman. Trig pillar. aka Craig-goch.

 

During the original compilation of this list Myrddyn Phillips used the map name that appeared closest to the summit of the listed hill or which seemed most appropriate for the hill, without due consideration for its positional value, doing so can perpetuate the use of inappropriate names.  As the 408m map heighted hill seemed of little consequence and was not then listed the use of its name for another hill did not seem inappropriate.  This is not a practice that he now advocates as with research either conducted locally or historically a more appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

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

Since the original publication of the Welsh P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of maps made available online.  Some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website.  Whilst others were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  Two of the historic maps now available online are the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the first publicly available Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is the former map that has prompted the change in the listed name of this hill. 

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Survey surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced from these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that places the name of Mynydd Coch adjacent to the summit of this hill.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

This list is now co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and when the 1^st edition of the list was published by Europeaklist in May 2013, the listed name of this hill was changed to Mynydd Coch.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is Mynydd Coch, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Aran Fawddwy

Name:  Mynydd Coch

Previously Listed Name:  Mynydd Cwmcelli 

OS 1:50,000 map:  124, 125

Summit Height:  468.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 80458 09952 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

 

Bwlch Height:  313.0m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 81012 10795 (LIDAR)

Drop:  155.3m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2016)