Castell (SH 655 061)
There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill
that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, with
the summit height and drop of the hill being confirmed by a Trimble GeoXH 6000
survey which took place on the 14th May 2018.
The criteria for the list that this name change
applies to are:
200m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m in
height that have 30m minimum drop. With
the word Twmpau being an acronym standing
for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.
The hill is adjoined to the
Tarennydd range of hills which are situated in the south-western part of North
Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned between two river valleys
with the Afon Dysynni to its north-west and the Afon Fathew to its south, and
has the small community of Dolgoch towards the south and Abergynolwyn towards
the east north-east.
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| Castell (SH 655 061) |
The hill appeared in the 200m P30 list on Geoff
Crowder’s v-g.me website under the invented name of Bryn Rhiwerfa with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the East.
Bryn Rhiwerfa
|
268m
|
124
|
23
|
Name from buildings to the East
|
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. 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 historic documents, through this form of research
an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.
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 superimposed with the Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map |
 |
| Extract from the Tithe map |
The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is
situated is given the number 2133 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 Castell on the Tithe map, the details of which appear in the county named as Merioneth and in the
parish of Towyn.
 |
| Extract from the Apportionment |
When visiting this and adjoining hills I met a
number of local farmers, including Joanne Redman on the summit of Coed Uchaf
(SH 649 055), Joanne was on her quad bike taking photos of her father’s farm, Nant-y-mynach
(SH 644 048), we talked about this and other hills and Joanne suggested that I should
contact her father; Tomos Lewis, whose telephone number she kindly gave me.
The following day I contacted Tomos and two days
later then visited him, Tomos is aged 60 and a Welsh speaker, and has lived at
Nant-y-mynach for 54 years, having moved there from the council houses in
Abertrinant when aged six. During our
conversations Tomos proved very knowledgeable and gave me many hill names that
do not appear on any Ordnance Survey map, and one of them was the name for this
hill which he said was known as Castell, this was during our telephone
conversation, when we met he referred to this hill by its plural; Cestyll.
 |
| Tomos Lewis |
Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in
the 200m Twmpau is Castell and this
was derived from the Tithe map and substantiated by local enquiry.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Tarennydd
Name: Castell
Previously Listed Name:
Bryn Rhiwerfa
Summit Height: 267.5m
(converted to OSGM15)
OS 1:50,000 map: 124
Summit Grid Reference:
SH 65561 06144
Drop: 88.4m (converted
to OSGM15)
 |
| The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Castell |
Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)
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