Tor Du (SN 842 856)
There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Yr Uchafion and 500m Twmpau, with the summit height and its position confirmed by a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 which took place on the 18th July 2016, and the bwlch height and its position confirmed by LIDAR analysis initially conducted by Aled Williams and subsequently by Myrddyn Phillips.
The criteria for the two listings that this name change applies to are:
Yr Uchafion - All Welsh hills at and above 500m in height that have 15m minimum drop. The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams.
The hill is a part of the Pumlumon range, which is an extensive group hills in the north-western part of Mid and West Wales, and it is situated above the A 44 road which is to its south and is positioned between the small communities of Llangurig to its south-east and the even smaller community of Eisteddfa Gurig to its west south-west.
 |
| Tor Du (SN 842 856) |
The hill first made an appearance in an
unpublished hill list in 1985 when Tony Blackburn listed it as Tor Du in The 500 Metre Tops of England and Wales, and was later included by
Michael Dewey and listed as Esgair y
Maesnant SE Top in the April 2002 edition of Strider which included the
updates to The 500-Metre Tops of
England and Wales list that appeared in his Mountain tables book published by Constable in 1995.
These two listings relied upon Ordnance Survey maps
of the day for the hill names used within their compilations, and as shown
below by extracts taken from a number of Ordnance Survey maps there are hill
names that for inexplicable reasons do not appear on subsequent published maps,
and this is what has happened in relation to this hill and its name.
When this hill
was first included in the Yr Uchafion and the list that later became known as the 500m Twmpau it was listed as Esgair y Maesnant South-East Top, with
the use of a directional name based on its adjacent peak toward the north-west,
and this is the name used when the details relating to a rudimentary survey
that gave the hill over 30m of drop were sent to Michael Dewey, who excepted
the survey result and listed it as Esgair
y Measnant SE Top. The information
sent to Michael was reliant upon Ordnance Survey maps of the day and these did not show a name for the hill.
Over recent years there have been a number of
Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historical such
as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst
others are current and digitally updated such as the enlarged map hosted on the
Geograph website. Three of the
historical maps now available are the Ordnance Survey One-Inch Seventh Series,
One-Inch New Popular and the historical 1:25,000 map, all of which relied
heavily for their place-name detail on the series of Six-Inch maps.
Extracts from a number
of Ordnance Survey maps appear below giving detail relating to the name Tor Du and its placement at or near the summit of this hill, and its exclusion from current Ordnance Survey maps.
 |
| Extract from the series of Ordnance Survey Six Inch maps |
 |
| Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch Seventh Series map |
 |
| Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch New Popular map |
 |
| Extract from the Ordnance Survey historical 1:25,000 map |
 |
| Extract from the current Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map with the hill without its name |
It was because of these
earlier Ordnance Survey maps that this hill was subsequently listed in both Yr
Uchafion and the 500m Twmpau compilations as Tor Du. However, place-name data can be substantiated by making
local enquiries, and on the day when this hill was Trimbled I
asked a number of farmers who were relaxing in the early morning sunshine vapouring,
the names of the hills. I was subsequently offered a lift up to the bwlch
between Y Drum and Esgair y Maesnant by Huw Meyrick, who
had lived in the area for twenty years and was only too happy to talk about the hills and their names, and along with giving many other hill names Huw
named this hill Tor Du,
substantiating the hill’s name that unfortunately no longer appears on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.
 |
| Huw Meyrick |
Therefore, as a result of detail on old Ordnance Survey maps which
has been substantiated by local enquiry the hill has subsequently been listed
under the name of Tor Du in the Yr
Uchafion and the 500m Twmpau.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Pumlumon
Name: Tor Du
Previously Listed Name:
Esgair y Maesnant South-East Top
Summit Height: 505.6m (converted to OSGM15)
OS 1:50,000 map: 135,
136
Summit Grid Reference:
SN 84268 85679
Drop: 33.0m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (December 2016)
No comments:
Post a Comment