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

Cwm Cynnydd Bank (SO 061 726)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau, and the following details are in respect of a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 18^th February 2016.

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

Y Pedwarau - These are the Welsh hills at and above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams, and the introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appeared on the 30th January 2017.

The hill is a part of the Pegwn Mawr range, this group of hills is situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales, and the hill is positioned to the north north-east of the small community of Abaty Cwm Hir (Abbey Cwmhir).

Cwm Cynnydd Bank (SO 061 726)

The hill appeared in the 400m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Waun Gaseg, which is a name that appeared close to the summit of the hill on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps of the day.  

Waun Gaseg

450m

SO061726

136/147

200/214

Height from 1986 #136 1:50000 map

  

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 Waun Gaseg is such an example as this name has usually been applied by the Ordnance Survey to land beside a small stream that is below and to the south-east of this hill’s summit, whilst a number of different scaled Ordnance Survey maps position the name Cwm Cynnydd Bank as applicable to land extending toward the summit of this hill. 

Extract from the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in Y Pedwarau is Cwm Cynnydd Bank and this was derived from a number of different scaled Ordnance Survey maps, all of which place this name applicable to land that extends toward this hill’s summit.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Pegwn Mawr

Name:  Cwm Cynnydd Bank

Previously Listed Name:  Waun Gaseg 

Summit Height:  454.9m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  136, 147

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 06116 72668 

Drop:  83.9m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Cwm Cynnydd Bank

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (October 2016)