Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau

Pen y Gaer (SJ 067 014)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis and a subsequent Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

Pen y Gaer (SJ 067 014)

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 with 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 200m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m 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.

The 200m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Carnedd Wen group of hills which are situated in the south-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A4), and it is encircled by minor roads and also has the A458 road to its north, the A470 road to its south-west and the B4389 and B4390 roads to its east, and has the village of Adfa towards the west south-west.

When the original 200m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed under the name of Pen y Gwladfa, with an accompanying note stating; Name from ancient settlement at the summit.

Pen y Gwladfa

270c

SJ068014

136

215

Name from ancient settlement at the summit

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 use the translation of the word settlement which appears in ancient script on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and prefix it with the words Pen y.  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

After surveying the summit of this hill I called at Llwyncopa which is an old farm now renovated as a private residence and met James Thomas.  James is aged 67 and has lived in Llwyncopa for ten years and is local to the area.  This hill is prominently positioned behind James’ house and without hesitation he told me it is known as Pen y Gaer.  This name was not a surprise as the hill has an ancient hill fort encircling its summit and the term Pen y Gaer is used for many such ancient Welsh settlements.  

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Pen y Gaer, and this was derived from local enquiry.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carnedd Wen

Name:  Pen y Gaer

Previously Listed Name:  Pen y Gwladfa 

  

OS 1:50,000 map:  136

Summit Height:  270.0m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 06728 01430 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  238.4m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 05925 01449 (LIDAR)

Drop:  31.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For details on the Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey of this hill

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2020)