Thursday 16 July 2020

Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales


Cae Rosser (SO 388 005)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Cae Rosser (SO 388 005)

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

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

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 3rd December 2015, and which is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

The hill is adjoined to the Gwent Is Coed group of hills which are situated in the south-eastern part of South Wales (Region C, Sub-Region C3), and it is positioned with the A472 road to its north and the A449 road to its east and the Afon Wysg (River Usk) to the west, and has the town of Brynbuga (Usk) towards the north north-west.

The hill originally appeared in the 30-99m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Red Hill, which is a name adjoined to a minor road on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and not necessarily to the hill itself.


Red Hill70cSO388005171152


During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on the map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are either inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate.

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

As this hill comprises bounded land the Tithe map was consulted.  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 317 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 Rosser in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llangeview [sic] and in the county named as Monmouth.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cae Rosser, and this was derived from the Tithe map.


The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Gwent Is Coed

Name:  Cae Rosser

Previously Listed Name:  Red Hill

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  72.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 38857 00521 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  32.2m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 39355 00008 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  40.5m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  55.68% (LIDAR)


Myrddyn Phillips (July 2020)

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