Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

Pen y Bryn (SH 978 407) – Sub-Trichant addition

There has been confirmation of an addition to the list of 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. 

Pen y Bryn (SH 978 407)

The criteria for the list that this addition 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 name the hill is listed by is Pen y Bryn and this was derived from the Tithe map, and it 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 a minor road to its north-west and the A494 road to its south-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 not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for this sub category. 

After the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-evaluated and it was listed with an estimated c 20m of drop, based on the 352m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 332m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 330m – 340m. 

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

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales. 

LIDAR image of Pen y Bryn (SH 978 407)

Therefore, the confirmation of the addition of this hill to Sub-Trichant status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 353.1m summit height and a 330.3m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 22.75m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified as a Sub-Trichant. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Arenig 

Name:  Pen y Bryn 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  353.1m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 97898 40730 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  330.3m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 97766 40488 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  22.75m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2021)