Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30-99m Twmpau

Cae Benglog (SH 316 380)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is now listed in the 30-99m Twmpau, with the summit height and its position, drop and status of the hill being confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

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

30-99m Twmpau – Welsh hills at and above 30m and below 100m in height that have a minimum 30m of drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at and above 30m and below 100m in height with 20m and more and below 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward. 

The hill is adjoined to the Pen Llŷn group of hills, which is situated in the north-west part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and is positioned overlooking the A 497 road which is to its north-east and has the small community of Morfa Nefyn t0 its north-west and the town of Pwllheli towards the south-east.

The hill did not appear in the 30-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website as it did not meet the criteria set for the accompanying sub list which was entitled Hills to be surveyed, however when this sub list was standardised and interpolated drop values later added the hill was only listed with an estimated c 19m of drop, and it was LIDAR analysis that classified it to the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau category.

As the summit of this hill comprises bounded land the details for it were examined on the Tithe map.  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.

Extract from the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 276 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 Cae benglog, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the county named as Carnarvon [sic] and in the parish of Bodean.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau is Cae Benglog, and this name was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Pen Llŷn

Name:  Cae Benglog

Previously Listed Name:  not previously listed 

Summit Height:  86.8m (LIDAR)

OS 1:50,000 map:  123

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 31635 38073 (LIDAR)

  

Drop:  20.9m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2018)