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

 

Ffridd Rhos Dawel (SH 951 391) 

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 derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Ffridd Rhos Dawel (SH 951 391)

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 13^th May 2017. 

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

The hill is adjoined to the Arenig group of hills, which are situated in the central part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A4212 road to its west, the A494 road to its south and a minor road to its east, and has the town of Y Bala towards the south-west. 

When the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website this hill was listed under the name of Rhos Dawel, which is a prominent name that appears close to this hill’s summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps.

Rhos Dawel

374m

SH952392

125

18

 

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 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 222 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 Ffridd Rhos Dawel, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Llandderfel and in the county named as Merioneth. 

Extract from the apportionments

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

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Arenig 

Name:  Ffridd Rhos Dawel 

Previously Listed Name:  Rhos Dawel 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  374.0m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 95179 39161 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  337.0m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 94960 39189 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  37.0m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2021)