Mynydd Aberysgir (SN 981 323)
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 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.
LIDAR image of Mynydd Aberysgir (SN 981 323) |
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 13th May 2017,
and the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of the list appearing
on the 1st January 2022.
Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips |
The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Epynt group of
hills, which are situated in the central
part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the
A40 road farther to its south, and has the town of Aberhonddu (Brecon) towards
the south-east.
The hill appeared in the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the
invented and transposed name of Mynydd
Aberbiran, with an accompanying note stating; Name from stream to the South-West.
Mynydd Aberbiran | 377m | SN982323 | 160 | 12 | Trig pillar. Name from stream to the South-West |
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 stream and add the word Mynydd to it. 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 the original publication of the Welsh P30
lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website 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 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 historic maps
now available online 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 along with the contemporary
Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and the Tithe map
that has instigated the change in the listed name of this hill.
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 18th century and the mid-19th
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 places the
name Mynydd Aber Esgair close to its summit.
Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map |
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 20 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 Aberysgir Common
in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Aberysgir and in the
county named as Brecon.
Extract from the apportionments |
Therefore, the name this hill is
now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m
Hills of Wales is Mynydd Aberysgir and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey
1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map in combination with the Ordnance
Survey Draft Surveyors map and the Tithe map.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Mynydd Epynt
Name: Mynydd Aberysgir
Previously Listed Name: Mynydd Aberbiran
OS 1:50,000 map: 160
Summit Height: 376.9m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SN 98148 32329 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 322.9m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SN 97687 33562 (LIDAR)
Drop: 54.0m (LIDAR)
Myrddyn Phillips (July 2024)
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