Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant

Cwm Bank (SO 107 570)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant, with the summit height and drop of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey which took place on the 6^th September 2017.

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

Y Trichant – These are the Welsh hills at and above 300m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with the introduction to the re-naming and publication history of this list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 13^th May 2017.

The hill is adjoined to the Fforest Glud range, this group of hills is situated in the south-eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and the hill is positioned between the two small communities of Frank’s Bridge to the east and Llansanffraid-yn-Elfael (Llansantffraed-in-Elwel) to the south south-west.

Cwm Bank (SO 107 570)

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the partly invented name of Moel Gwern, with an accompanying note stating Name from buildings to the South-West.  During my early hill listing I 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.  My preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance, just use part of the name of the farm that is situated to the south-west of the hill’s summit.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with time and inclination place-name data can be improved either by asking local people or by examining historical documents, through this form of research an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found, and this is one such example, and as the hill consists of bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe map.

Moel Gwern

355m

SO108571

148

200

Name from buildings to the South-West

The term Tithe map is generally given to a map of a Welsh or English parish or township and which was prepared after the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act.  This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods.  The Tithe maps gave names of owners and occupiers of land in each parish and importantly for place-name research they also included the name of enclosed land.  This enclosed land is usually based on a field system, however not every field is given a name, but many are and especially so in Wales.

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 97 on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 97 on the Tithe map, this can be cross referenced against the apportionments; it is these apportionments that give the name of the owner or occupier of the land as well as the name of the land.  The land where the summit of this hill is situated is named as Bank on the Tithe map and described as Pasture and Rough, importantly the land is that adjoined to the farm of Cwm, in affect it is the Bank of Cwm, or simply put; Cwm Bank; the details on the Tithe map appear in the county named as Radnor and in the parish of Betws Diserth.

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land is named Bank and is adjoined to Cwm

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant is Cwm Bank, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Fforest Glud

Name:  Cwm Bank 

Previously Listed Name:  Moel Gwern 

Summit Height:  354.4m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  148

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 10798 57035  

Drop:  52.4m (converted to OSGM15)

For details on the survey of Cwm Bank

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2017)