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

Ffridd Newydd (SH 677 011) 

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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data and LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Ffridd Newydd (SH 677 011)

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, and the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of the list appearing on the 1^st January 2022. 

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

The hill is adjoined to the Tarren y Gesail group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with a minor road to its south-west and the A493 road to its south-east, and has the town of Machynlleth towards the east. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Braich Ddu, which is a prominent name that appears near the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Braich Ddu

308m

SH677012

135

23

 

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, with the previously listed name of Braich Ddu more applicable to land that does not take in the summit of this hill. 

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

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. 

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 211 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 Newydd in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Towyn 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 Newydd and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Tarren y Gesail 

Name:  Ffridd Newydd 

Previously Listed Name:  Braich Ddu 

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

Summit Height:  306.7m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 67751 01152 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  267m (spot height) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 67649 01300 (spot height) 

Drop:  40m (LIDAR summit and spot height bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (March 2022)