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

 

Waun Fawr (SJ 227 537) 

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 and a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

Waun Fawr (SJ 227 537)

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 Moel y Gamelin group of hills, which are situated in the north-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it is positioned with the A5104 road to its north-west, the A525 road to its south-east and the B5430 road to its east, and has the village of Rhydtalog towards the north north-east. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the invented and transposed name of Moel Rhydtalog, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hamlet to the North-East.

Moel Rhydtalog

385m

SJ227537

117

256

Name from hamlet to the North-East

                 

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 small village and prefix it with the word Moel.  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

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the old Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was named the Interactive Coverage Map and the interactive mapping available on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  One of the historic maps now available is the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the first publicly available Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is the Draft Surveyors map that formed the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Survey surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced from these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that shows the name of Waun Fawr positioned on this hill close to its summit. 

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Waun Fawr, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Moel y Gamelin 

Name:  Waun Fawr 

Previously Listed Name:  Moel Rhydtalog 

OS 1:50,000 map:  117

Summit Height:  385.4m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 22715 53774 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Height:  348.9m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 22115 52838 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  36.5m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2021)