Monday 13 June 2022

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru

 

Chwarel Graig Ddu (SH 725 455) – Uchaf addition 

There has been an addition to the listing of The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail on contemporary maps. 

Chwarel Graig Ddu (SH 725 455)

The criteria for the list that this addition applies to are:

The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru This is the revised draft title for the Welsh 500m P15s list that takes in all hills in Wales at or above 500m in height with 15m minimum drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams with the Introduction to the list being published on Mapping Mountains in November 2015 and an update relating to the list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 19th June 2019.

The Welsh Highlands - Uchafion Cymru by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The name the hill is listed by is Chwarel Graig Ddu, and it is adjoined to the Arenig Fach group of hills, which are situated in the north-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it is positioned with the A470 road to its west and the B4391 road to its south, and has the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog towards the west.

This hill was not included in the original list of Welsh 500m P15s that later became known as Yr Uchafion and latterly as The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru, as because it is a part of a working quarry the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map do not show any spot heights or contours, therefore the hill seemed not to exist. 

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

Since the original compilation of this list there have been a number of 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 were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.

One of the resources recently available online is the mapping on the OS Maps website.  This is the replacement for OS Get-a-map and until recent times had contours at 5m intervals which were proving consistently more accurate compared to the 5m contours that sometimes appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and used to appear on the online Vector Map Local.  Although the mapping on the OS Maps website no longer has contours at 5m intervals, such contours are represented on other mapping available online and for this hill this mapping has an uppermost 610m ring contour and bwlch contouring between 590m – 595m, with these contours giving this hill a drop value exceeding the minimum 15m to qualify for this list. 

Extract from the online map showing 5m contouring

The hill has subsequently been inspected from adjacent hillsides and its validity confirmed and as a quarry road passes over its summit area it is considered solid and stable.

Therefore, the addition of this hill to Uchaf status is due to detail on contemporary online mapping with a subsequent inspection from adjacent hillsides undertaken to confirm its validity, resulting in a 613m summit height and a 592m bwlch height, with these values giving this hill 21m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be classified as an Uchaf. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Arenig Fach

Name:  Chwarel Graig Ddu

OS 1:50,000 map:  115

Summit Height:  613m

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 72505 45533

Bwlch Height:  592m

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 72456 45744   

Drop:  21m 

 

For the additions, deletions and reclassifications to The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru reported on Mapping Mountains please consult the following Change Registers:

 

The Welsh 500m P15s (Yr Uchafion)

 

The Welsh 500m P15s (Yr Uchafion) – 500m Subs

 

The Welsh 500m P15s (Yr Uchafion) – 490m Subs

 

The Welsh 500m P15s (Yr Uchafion) – Double Subs

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (June 2022)

 

 

 

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