Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Safle Claddu Nant y Caws (SN 468 174) & (SN 469 174) and Cae Mawr (SN 462 175) – Lesser Dominant reclassified to Dual Summit Lesser Dominant

There has been confirmation of a reclassification to the list of the Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Cae Mawr (SN 462 175) and Safle Claddu Nant y Caws (SN 468 174 & SN 469 174)

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

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales - Welsh P30 hills whose prominence  equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and the list is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format. 

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

Dual Summit hills:

A hill classified as a Dual Summit is defined as one which has an extant natural summit coupled with that of a higher artificial summit, with the latter that can be described as stable in character.  In the main, these recent man-made constructions are the result of quarrying activities producing spoil tips, or as in this instance a landfill.  These recent man-made constructions are treated differently to ancient man-made constructions such as hill forts and tumuli, as if the latter are deemed stable and of an earthen character their age dictates that they can be viewed as being permanent in nature and are now effectively a part of the hill.  For those bagging Dual Summit hills, a visit to either the natural high point or the elevated man-made high point is sufficient to claim an ascent of the hill.  With the Dual Summit classification being a relatively new category and fist instigated in January 2018 for a Dual Summit Pedwar. 

The name the hill is now listed by is Safle Claddu Nant y Caws for the higher man-made summit and Cae Mawr for the lower natural summit, and it is adjoined to the Mynydd Sylen group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B5), and the two summits are positioned with the A48 road to their north and a minor road to their south-west, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the north-west. 

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, the natural summit was included in the main P30 list with a 155m summit height, based on the spot height adjoined to a triangulation pillar positioned at SN 46405 17608 that appears on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map. 

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

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 then separated in to its two component parts, with the man-made summit listed with an estimated c 59m of drop, based on an estimated c 156m summit height and an estimated c 97m bwlch height, with both heights based on interpolation of 5m contouring that appeared on the interactive mapping hosted on the OS Maps website.  With the lower natural summit listed with a 155 summit height and the bwlch between these two summits estimated as c 138m, which if separating these hills would give an estimated c 17m of drop.

However, it was not until LIDAR became available that the details for these summits 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.

Therefore, the confirmation of the reclassification of this hill to Dual Summit Lesser Dominant status is due to LIDAR analysis, resulting in a 163.8m summit height for the man-made summit and a 155.1m summit height for the natural summit, and a 98.5m bwlch height, with these values giving the man-made summit 65.3m of drop and 39.89% dominance and the natural summit 56.6m of drop and 36.50% dominance, which is sufficient for Dual Summit Lesser Dominant status, with the details for the higher summit prioritised within the list. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Sylen

Name:  Safle Claddu Nant y Caws (artificial Dual Summit) and Cae Mawr (natural Dual Summit)

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Height:  163.8m (artificial Dual Summit) and 155.1m (natural Dual Summit) (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 46899 17416 & SN 46900 17411 (artificial Dual Summit) and SN 46268 17566 (natural Dual Summit) (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  98.5m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 39491 11374 & SN 39493 11375 (LIDAR)

Drop:  65.3m (artificial Dual Summit) and 56.6m (natural Dual Summit) (LIDAR)

Dominance:  39.89% (artificial Dual Summit) and 36.50% (natural Dual Summit) (LIDAR)

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2024)