Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

 

Pt. 143.7m (ST 330 982) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau, 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 Pt. 143.7m (ST 330 982)

The criteria for the list that this name change applies to are:

100m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 100m Sub-Twmpau, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 100m and below 200m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward. 

100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Cefn yr Ystrad group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B5), and it is positioned with minor roads to its north and south-east, and the A4042 road to its west, and has the town of Pont-y-pŵl (Pontypool) towards the west north-west.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the invented and transposed name of Pen Coed-y-paen, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hamlet to the East.

Pen Coed-y-paen

142m

ST332985

171

152

Name from hamlet to the East

 

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, with little consideration for the meaning of the name and where it was appropriately applied to.  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 small community and put the word Pen in front of 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

However, on occasion even when research is conducted an appropriate name for the hill may not be found, and on such occasions the listing protocol is to use the point (Pt. 143.7m) notation, and for this hill this is such an example.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Pt. 143.7m, and this is being used as the author has not found an appropriate name for the hill either through historic research and/or local enquiry. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cefn yr Ystrad

Name:  Pt. 143.7m

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Coed-y-paen 

OS 1:50,000 map:  171

Summit Height:  143.7m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  ST 33080 98268 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  119.3m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  ST 33629 99205 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  24.4m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (February 2025)