Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – The Welsh P15s

Ffridd Mathrafal (SJ 114 102) 

There has been confirmation of a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the The Welsh P15s, 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 Ffridd Mathrafal (SJ 114 102)

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

The Welsh P15s – Welsh hills with 15m minimum drop, irrespective of their height, with an accompanying sub list entitled the Welsh Sub-P15s, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills with 14m or more and below 15m of drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, with the Introduction to the list appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 10^th May 2019. 

The Welsh P15s by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Esgeiriau Gwynion group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A495 road to its immediate south, and has the town of Llanfair Caereinion towards the south south-west.

When the listing that became known as The Welsh P15s was being compiled, this hill was not included in the main P15 or Sub P14 list, as with an uppermost 140m ring contour and bwlch contouring between 130m – 140m that appear on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map, it was deemed not to have sufficient prominence to be listed. 

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

One of the mapping resources now available online is the WalkLakes website which hosts an interactive map originated from the Ordnance Survey Open Data programme.  This map has many spot heights not on other publicly available maps and for this hill a 148m summit spot height is given, with subsequent interpolation giving the hill an estimated c 13m of drop and being listed under the point (Pt. 148m) notation.

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 829 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 Ffridd Mathrafal in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish named as Llangynyw and in the county named as Montgomery. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the The Welsh P15s is Ffridd Mathrafal, and the confirmation of this name was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Esgeiriau Gwynion 

Name:  Ffridd Mathrafal 

Previously Listed Name:  Pt. 148m 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  150.0m (LIDAR)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 11408 10233 (LIDAR)                                                  

Bwlch Height:  132.8m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 11315 10265 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  17.2m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (May 2025)