03.10.16 Cefn y Coed (SO
211 934) and Black Hill (SO 209 929)
 |
| Cefn y Coed (SO 211 934) |
After visiting Stingwern
Hill (SJ 132 014) with Rick and Jen we navigated toward Trefaldwyn (Montgomery)
and onward to the area known locally as Cefn y Coed, the top of which has
another Marilyn to add to the growing number already bagged during the last
twelve months by Jenny and Rick, who are fast approaching the record for the
greatest number of Marilyns visited during a twelve month timeframe.
I’d visited this hill
twice before, the first time in July 2004, and the second time in the company
of Alan Dawson in October 2013 when he surveyed the hill with his Leica
RX1250. The hill is no more than a high
pasture used for sheep grazing but it has extensive views and is situated in a
quiet spot that is seldom visited unless you’re a Marilyn, Hump or P30 bagger.
We approached from the
north where a gate gave access to the first of many fields. There was a slightly chilling breeze whisking
across the land as we gained height beside a row of stunted trees which
shielded us from a tractor working away to our east on a complex of large barns
that had appeared on the land since my first visit.
The top of this hill is
slightly rounded and I remember watching Alan on my last visit as he used an
Abney level to sight across to an adjacent point which is given a 355m spot
height on Ordnance Survey maps, compared to the 355m ring contour where the
listed summit appears, each point was surveyed by Alan with the results being 353.2m
and 353.5m respectively.
As we approached the
summit I crouched down and assessed the lay of land leading up to the high
point from its north, once reached I put my rucksack on the ground as an
indicator and Rick then assessed the lay of land from a number of directions
and directed me toward where he judged the high point to be situated.
I set the Trimble up on
top of my rucksack to give it elevation above the grass, measured a 0.43m
offset between its internal antenna and the ground at its base and waited for
the 0.1m accuracy level to be attained before pressing ‘Log’. As data were gathered I joined Rick and Jen
for a natter, as the last of the designated 300 datum points were stored the
Marilyn bagging couple made a move toward the top where the 355m spot height
appears on current Ordnance Survey maps.
 |
| Gathering data at the summit of Cefn y Coed |
The route toward this
southerly high point took us through a field of cows, they all rather
obediently skipped through an open gate in to the field that we were vacating,
all that was left in the field where they had once been and where we now were,
was a rather big looking and slightly inquisitive bull, thankfully he seemed more
concerned where his female company had gone rather than wondering why three
people were roaming through his field.
As we arrived in the
field where the 355m spot height is situated Rick directed me to a point to set
the Trimble up, whilst Jenny headed toward a point nearer to where a conifer
plantation is situated. We decided that
each point needed Trimbling, making three data sets in all including that
already taken at what is designated the summit of the hill.
Once the five minutes of
allotted data were gathered I headed toward Rick and Jen who had found the high
point near to the conifer plantation, visually this looked higher than the
point where I had just gathered data from, but lower than the point where the
designated summit is given and where the first data set was taken with the
Trimble.
Again the Trimble was
set up on top of my rucksack to give it elevation above its immediate surrounds,
and as it beeped away gathering its all-important data I kept Rick and Jen
amused telling them stories of how I re-met Lou, a date we had whilst in school
and also the fact that I’d lived with her younger sister.
 |
| The Trimble set-up position at the high point of Black Hill near to the conifer plantation |
After the Trimble was
packed away we descended north-west toward where a public footpath leads in to
a wood; in front of us was a superb view stretching for miles, it was good to
be out on the hill in good company with good conversation. The path through the wood led us to Camp Farm
where I went hunting its occupant.
Gordon Davies was
busying himself in the sunshine when I introduced myself and explained my
interest in Welsh upland place-names. We
then spent the next 30 minutes with him talking about all manner of things.
Gordon’s grandfather had
moved to Camp Farm in 1904 from the Trefeglwys area, I asked about the names of
the two tops we had visited, the latter beside the conifer plantation was just in
view from where we were standing and Gordon told me that it is known as Black
Hill. I asked about the name of Caeliber
Isaf which appears on the southern side of the hill on current Ordnance Survey
maps, Gordon explained that Caeliber Isaf is mainly on the other side of the
hill and takes in a small district and that there are other local places with
Caeliber in their names (the name Caeliber Uchaf also appears toward the west
on current Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps).
I then asked about the name of Cefn y Coed which appears across the
summit area of this hill on the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map,
Gordon told me that he knew Cefn y Coed to be a local area rather than the hill
itself. The high point of the hill was
out of view from where we were standing but Gordon pointed toward where it was
situated and said that it was a little higher than Black Hill and that it was
known locally as Cwm Bromley Top, with Cwm Bromley being a farm on the eastern
side of the hill.
 |
| Gordon Davies |
I scribbled all
necessary details in my note book as Gordon kindly gave me all this
information, he then asked us to follow him as he was going to try and point
out where Snowdon was, we walked to the top of his drive and on to a scrub
piece of land from where the high Berwyn and Aran, and the bulging profile of
Cadair Idris were on fine display, and way off in the distance were two
pyramidal summits and Gordon pointed toward them and said ‘there it is, that’s
Snowdon.’
We’d spent a very
pleasant half hour or so in Gordon’s company and thanked him for his time and
shook his hand before saying our goodbyes.
It was only a short walk back on the road to the awaiting car and then
it was off to Churchstoke and the minor road leading toward the base of Corndon.
We approached Corndon
from its north-west and I dropped Rick and Jen off next to a foot stile which
gave access to the path that leads steeply up the hill’s western slopes, this
is adjacent to where a mall conifer plantation has recently been felled. Whist they bagged another Marilyn I continued
up to the top of the track, parked, had a butty and watched the two of them
nearing the summit. I just had time to
visit the summit of Lan Fawr; a 426.1m Pedwar before jumping in the car and
driving back down the track to pick them up as they arrived back at the foot
stile – good timing.
 |
| Jenny and Rick approaching the summit of Corndon |
 |
| Corndon from the summit of Lan Fawr |
Next on the agenda was
the Stiperstones, an excellent hill, I dropped them off for their fifth Marilyn
of the day on the high point of the road to the south of the summit and then
drove to the main car park and sat in the sun and slightly chilly breeze and
waited for them to wander down the path from the summit.
Before the last hill of
the day we visited the Horseshoe Inn at the Bridges where Rick and Jen sampled
a number of brews. This is a lovely pub
situated next to a bunkhouse that accommodates 22 people beside the trickling
waters of the River East Onny.
 |
| Ready to sample the brews at the Horseshoe Inn at the Bridges |
All that remained was a
drive toward and through Churchstoke and Forden and up the steep minor road
that leads to the ridge road passing over Cefn Digoll (Long Mountain). By the time we reached the gate that gives
access up the track to the summit the sun had sank in the sky, the gate was
open and we took full advantage and gained a few metres in distance by driving
up the track to park beside the large mast just to the south-east of the
summit.
Leaving the car we
followed the path to the northerly side of the ancient earthen embankment that
encircles this hill’s summit and joined its top and walked round to the western
side where the view opened up with slithers of orange hued against subtle blues
as day turned to night.
 |
| The last light of a great day out with Rick and Jen |
There was just time to
venture in to the wood to visit the trig and the high point of the hill, before
heading out of the wood and back to the car before darkness fell. It had been a great day out in the company of
Rick and Jen which was topped off with an extremely good meal at Spice UK in
Welshpool.
 |
| Beside the trig pillar at the summit of Cefn Digoll |
Postscript:
After arriving home I contacted
Ted and Merle Davies at Cwm Bromley farm, Ted told me that he knows the high
point where the summit of the hill is situated as the Tank Field as there’s a
water tank in it, and confirmed that he occasionally refers to the field where
the summit is situated as top of Cwm Bromley but doesn’t really know this field
or the hill itself as either Cwm Bromley Top or as top of Cwm Bromley, preferring
to call it the Tank Field. However,
study of the Tithe map confirmed that the old bounded land of this hill that
now takes in many of the upper fenced fields and importantly also includes the
summit was named as Cefn y Coed at the time of the Tithe map, this confirms
that in all likelihood the hill is also named Cefn y Coed.
Survey Result:
Cefn y Coed (significant name changes)
Summit Height: 353.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000) 353.5m (converted to OSGM15, Leica RX1250) (significant height revision)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 21164 93411 (
Bwlch Height: 184.2m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SO 20667 90868 (LIDAR)
Drop: 169.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Dominance: 47.89% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Black Hill
Summit Height: 353.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 20930 92921
Drop: c 9m
Dominance: 2.55%
Black Hill
Summit Height: 353.4m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SO 20930 92921
Drop: c 9m
Dominance: 2.55%
No comments:
Post a Comment