The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru

 

The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru

During the last eight years two articles have been published on Mapping Mountains relating to the The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list.  The first article appeared in November 2015 and introduced the list, which at this stage was tentatively referred to as the The Welsh 500m P15s.  This introductory article gave historical context to the list and set out the criteria for the main list and accompanying subs with their totals also given.  In June 2019 the second article was published, this gave an update to the list and used its new name of the The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru.  Between the publication of these two articles Change Registers were created giving details for each addition, deletion and reclassification to this list. 

This article is the second update for this list.

Ever since the conception of this list a book was planned and over the last five years we have worked on the list and accompanying manuscript.  Much of this is based on detailed place-name research; which this list prioritises.  Such research takes time and should not be rushed.  We have now completed the manuscript for the eastern section of hill groups, but still have a long way to go; therefore it will take a number of years until this project is complete.  In the interim, this article will briefly set out the major changes to this list that have occurred during the last four years. 

In the introductory article we split Wales in to three Regions; these have been revised with the use of Topographical Regions, Sub-Regions and Groups; with an article introducing these published on Mapping Mountains in January 2022.  Totals in accordance with this revised listing system are presented below.  These Regions have also been extended beyond the border between Wales and England and take in the topographical land area we refer to as Greater Wales – Cymru Fawr.  In line with this, a separate topographical version of the list has also been created to recognise that although some of the Greater Wales – Cymru Fawr hills are in England, they are topographically part of the Welsh land mass. 

The other major revision to this list involves the accompanying sub hills.  When the list was introduced in November 2015 we used three categories of sub hills; 500m Subs, 490m Subs and the Double Subs.  These were still in place when the update article was published in June 2019, with two of these categories using hills below 500m in height, which is the benchmark height for our list.  However, changes to these sub lists had been proposed and discussed as far back as 2015. 

In January 2015, a change in criteria for the 500m Subs had been proposed by Aled Williams, taking the minimum drop threshold from P14 to P10.  Work on this listing began immediately, but due to other priorities progress stalled upon completion of two upland groups; namely, Carnedd Llywelyn and Glyder Fawr.  In October 2017, Aled Williams and Myrddyn Phillips discussed the merits of the 490 Subs and Double Subs for the lists that they co-author and ultimately decided that these would be dispensed with upon the next revision to The Welsh Highlands – Uchafion Cymru list. 

Work on the new 500m P10 Sub-Tops list re-commenced at the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 with the first draft completed in bilingual form by Aled Williams in June 2020, with 241 Sub-Tops listed under the Welsh title Rhestr Topiau Cymru Dros 500m gyda Mwy Na 10 m ond Llai Na 15m o Amlygrwydd and the English title List of Welsh Tops Over 500m with Greater Than 10m but Less Than 15m of Prominence.  The following month saw the addition of historic BLS (Basic Line Survey) data generated by Myrddyn Phillips to the list, thus revising the total to 247 Sub-Tops, with 855 hills or hillocks categorised in total using state-of-the-art data sources; such as Trimble surveys, BLS surveys, LIDAR and OS 5m contouring.  The authors subsequently agreed to replace the previous three Sub lists with the new 500m P10 Sub-Tops list in July 2020.

Therefore, the sub hills accompanying our main P15 list now take in just one category, this is: 

Welsh Highland Subs (500m P10 Sub-Tops) – Welsh hills at and above 500m in height with 10m or more and below 15m of drop.

 

 Region: ‘North Wales \ Gogledd Cymru’

Sub-Region A1 Groups:

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Mynydd Twr	0	0
Carnedd Llywelyn	32	14
Glyder Fawr	12	7
Yr Wyddfa	18	11
Moel Hebog	14	7
Yr Eifl	3	0

 

Sub-Region A2 Groups:

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Moel Siabod	4	2
Moelwyn Mawr	25	18
Arenig Fach	32	10
Arenig Fawr	30	20
Y Llethr	27	6
Carnedd y Filiast	18	3
Mynydd Hiraethog	4	0
Moel y Gamelin	8	1

 

Sub-Region A3 Groups:

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Raw Head	0	0
Craig Berwyn	34	14
Foel Cedig	20	7
Esgeiriau Gwynion	31	8
Aran Fawddwy	30	12
Cadair Idris	13	7
Tarren y Gesail	11	0
Carnedd Wen	1	2

 

 

Region: ‘South Wales \ De Cymru’

 

Sub-Region B1 Groups:

 

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Banc Llechwedd Mawr	15	1
Pumlumon	32	10
Y Garn	35	17
Carn yr Hyrddod	19	17
Mynydd Bach	0	0
Drygarn Fawr	19	15
Mynydd Epynt	0	0
Esgair Wen	20	6
Mynydd Mallaen	0	0
Mynydd Pencarreg	0	0
Mynydd Preseli	1	0
Garn Fawr	0	0

 

Sub-Region B2 Groups:

 

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Hirddywel	11	3
Cilfaesty	2	0
Bigwn	7	0
Stiperstones	1 + 3*	1*
Brown Clee	3*	0
Worcestershire Beacon	0	0
May Hill	0	0

 

* These hills are in England, but topographically part of the Welsh land mass. As such, these hills are only included in the topographical version of the list.

Sub-Region B3 Groups:

 

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Fforest Glud	8	1
Gwaun Ceste	8	0

 

Sub-Region B4 Groups:

 

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Mynydd Du	18	6
Ysgyryd Fawr	0	0

 

Sub-Region B5 Groups:

 

Group	P15 Tops	P10 Sub-Tops
Mynydd Sylen	0	0
Mynydd Du	17	6
Penlle’r Castell	0	0
Fan Fawr	12	1
Pen y Fan	12	1
Cefn yr Ystrad	20	11
Craig y Llyn	12	3

 

As the 490m subs have been dispensed with the Change Registers for these are now redundant.  However, they will remain on Mapping Mountains as a historical documentation of the list, although their totals will no longer be used in this list. 

The Change Register that was entitled the 500m Subs will change its name to the Welsh Highland Subs and its criteria and totals revised. 

The current totals for the main P15 and accompanying sub list are:

 

Welsh Highland P15s:  636 hills. 

Welsh Highland Subs:  247 hills.

 

The current totals for the topographical version of the P15 and accompanying sub list are:

 

Welsh Highland P15s:  642 hills. 

Welsh Highland Subs:  248 hills.

 

During the years of conception, compilation and surveying the hills within this list we have visited a number of the Welsh Highland Subs.  As of today our totals for these main list subs are:

 

Myrddyn Phillips:  155. 

Aled Williams:  117.

 

The expanded sub list is a welcome addition to the The Welsh Highlands list and when coupled with the main P15 category they give a comprehensive documentation of Welsh hills at and above 500m in height. 

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (January 2023)

 

 

The Welsh Highlands –November 2015 introductory article

 

The Welsh Highlands –June 2019 article giving first update