Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – Y Pedwarau

Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

There has been a Summit Relocation to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau, with the summit height, position and relocation confirmed by a survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 conducted by Myrddyn Phillipa and which took place on the 15^th February 2018, with the height for the lower summit substantiated from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams.

The criteria for the list this summit relocation affects are:

Y Pedwarau - 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 30^th January 2017. 

The name of the hill is Farrington Bank and it is situated in the Maelienydd range of hills which are also known as the Beacon Hill range, this group of hills is situated in the eastern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and the hill is positioned with the B 4365 road to its west, and has the small town of Trefyclo (Knighton) towards the north.

Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

As the summit of the hill is not on designated open access land permission to visit should be sought, for those wishing to do so access to the hill is relatively easy from the convenience of a high minor road that leads to the access track to The Spaceguard Centre and Observatory that is positioned just to the north-east of the summit.

This hill is given twin 417m map heighted tops on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, with the top positioned at SO 305 699 originally given priority status in the listing when published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, with an accompanying note stating Observatory & trig pillar at second top of same height: SO 307 702.  However, as the top positioned at SO 306 701 has a triangulation pillar this priority status was swapped when the list was renamed as the Y Pedwarau and published by Europeaklist in May 2013.  Both of these tops were surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000, with the result from LIDAR analysis for what proved to be the lower summit also included:

416.700m (converted to OSGM15) at SO 30500 69937 (grazing pasture)

416.499m (converted to OSGM15) at SO 30645 70198 (Trimble for observatory and trig pillar)

416.5m at SO 30659 70187 (LIDAR for observatory and trig pillar)

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

Therefore as the higher top has been confirmed as the summit in the grazing pasture, this is a Summit Relocation for the hill compared to the current listing which gives the top behind the observatory beside the trig pillar as prioritised status.  The relocated summit is approximately 300 metres to the south-west of where the summit is given in the Europeaklist publication of the Y Pedwarau.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Maelienydd (Beacon Hill)

Summit Height:  416.7m (converted to OSGM15)

Name:  Farrington Bank

OS 1:50,000 map:  137, 148

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SO 30500 69937 

        

Drop:  c 123m

Gathering data at the summit of Farrington Bank (SO 305 699)

Gathering data at the old prioritised summit of Farrington Bank (SO 306 701)

For details on the survey that relocated the summit of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (March 2018)