Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

Banc (SN 723 729)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill initially confirmed by Joe Nuttall who produced a summit analysis programme using LIDAR, and then by LIDAR analysis initially conducted by Jim Bloomer and subsequently by Myrddyn Phillips.

LIDAR image of Banc (SN 723 729)

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

Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the Sub-Trichant with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, with the Introduction to the list and the renaming of it appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 13th May 2017.

Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Elenydd group of hills, which are situated in the western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned with minor roads to its north and south and has the B4340 road to its west and the B4343 road to its east, and has the village of Pont-rhyd-y-groes towards the east south-east.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name of Pengrogwynion, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South.

Pengrogwynion

316m

SN723730

135/147

213

Name from buildings to the South

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 transpose the name of a farm and use it for that of the hill.  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.

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 17 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 Banc in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llanafan and in the county named as Cardigan.

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Banc, and this was derived from the Tithe map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Elenydd

Name:  Banc

Previously Listed Name:  Pengrogwynion

OS 1:50,000 map:  135, 147

Summit Height:  316.0m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 72380 72986 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  285.1m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 72097 73104 (LIDAR)

Drop:  30.9m (LIDAR)

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2020)