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

 

Thirteen Acres (SO 161 725) 

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 confirmed by LIDAR analysis and a subsequent Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Thirteen Acres (SO 161 725)

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 Beacon Hill group of hills, which are situated in Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned with the B4356 road to its north-east and minor roads to its west and south-east, and has the village of Llanbister towards the west. 

The hill appeared in the original 300m Welsh P30list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the invented and transposed name of Cantal Hill, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hall & wood to the West.

Cantal Hill

380c

SO161725

136/148

200/214

Name from hall & wood to the West

 

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 hall and wood and add the word Hill to it.  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

Before visiting this hill I called at Park Farm (SO 160 718) where I met Matthew Williams.  We chatted in the early morning sunshine for quite some time and Matthew told me that he had lived at this farm all of his life with his grandfather having rented it from 1963, and the farm and accompanying land was then bought in 2011.  Therefore, Matthew owns the land where the summit of this hill is situated and having explained my interest in upland place-names and in particular the name of the hill above Matthew’s Farm, he said that he had never heard an individual name for the hill, I then asked about the field where the summit is situated.  He knew exactly where the high point was and directed me from his farm up the continuation of the track, across a number of fields to the summit; he then told me the field where the high point is situated is known as Thirteen Acres.  Thanking Matthew, I asked permission to visit and survey the summit and this was duly given. 

Matthew Williams of Park Farm

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Thirteen Acres and this was derived from local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Beacon Hill 

Name:  Thirteen Acres 

Previously Listed Name:  Cantal Hill 

OS 1:50,000 map:  136, 148

Summit Height:  381.4m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)                                                          

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 16129 72592 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Height:  c 319m (interpolation) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 17072 72823 (interpolation) 

Drop:  c 62m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and interpolated bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2021)