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

Cefn Digoll (SJ 264 058)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales and Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and dominance of the hill derived by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams.

Cefn Digoll (SJ 264 058)

The criteria for the two lists that this name change applies to 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, with this hill listed in the 390m Sub-Pedwar category.  The criteria for this category are all Welsh hills at or above 390m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop.  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

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and the list is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Stiperstones group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned with the B4388 and the A483 roads to its west and a minor road to its east, and has the town of Y Trallwng (Welshpool) towards the south-west.

The hill appeared in the original 400m height band of Welsh P30 hills compiled by Myrddyn Phillips published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Beacon Ring, which is a prominent name that appears adjacent to the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Beacon Ring

408m

SJ265058

126

216

Marilyn. Clem/Yeaman. Trig pillar marked on map.

During the original compilation Myrddyn Phillips 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.  His preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance transpose an English name used for the summit area and use it for that of the hill.  This is not a practice that is now advocated as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historic documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.

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

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey 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 are current and digitally updated such as the old Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map and the interactive mapping available on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  One of the historic maps now available online is the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is this map along with historic documents and local knowledge that forms the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill.

The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map was the first map that Ordnance Survey produced, and their publication culminated from the whole of Britain being surveyed between 1791 and 1874 and the detail gathered therein produced at a scale of one inch to the mile and published in sheet format between 1805 and 1874.  The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ maps for the whole of Wales are now available online; they are also available in map format as enlarged and re-projected versions to match the scale and dimensions of the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series and are published by Cassini.  This series of maps form another important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names and bridge the timeframe leading up to the production of the Ordnance Survey base map of the Six-Inch series, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that records the name of Cefn Digoll (with the composition given as Cefn Digol).

 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map

The intricacies of language and prioritising one in favour of another for listing a hill is fraught with complication, with originating Cymraeg names being anglicised and also originating English names being cymricised, examples such as these are more common in border country and especially so for anglicised forms.  There is no steadfast rule that fits all, but as a standard a name that has its origins in the Welsh language and where this is substantiated by either historic documentation and/or contemporary usage should be prioritised in favour of a contemporary anglicised or English version of the name.  Likewise, if a name exists where an element of it is in English and if this name applies to a hill that is situated in a Welsh speaking part of Wales it is standard practice to use a full Welsh term for the name.  It is also standard practice to use a Welsh name for a hill if another name exists that has originated in a different language.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cefn Digoll, and this was derived from historic documents including the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map and local knowledge, with the prioritised language protocol also being used.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Stiperstones

Name:  Cefn Digoll

Previously Listed Name:  Beacon Ring 

OS 1:50,000 map:  126

Summit Height:  408.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 26479 05819 (LIDAR)  

Bwlch Height:  103.3m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 28827 02177 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  305.0m (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Dominance:  74.69% (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (April 2017)