Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau

Coed Penllyn (SH 786 696) 

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 Coed Penllyn (SH 786 696)

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.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips, 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 Mynydd Hiraethog group of hills, which are situated in the northern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it is positioned with the A470 road to its west and a minor road to its east, and has the town of Llanrwst towards the south. 

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

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was included in the accompanying Hills to be surveyed sub list under the invented and transposed name of Pen Coed y Bortho, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the West.

Pen Coed y Bortho

193m

SH786697

115

17

Height from 1989 1:50000 map. Name from wood to the 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, 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 wood and add the word Pen 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.

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 that was 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, and it is the series of Ordnance Survey Six-Inch maps coupled with the Ordnance Survey map that was hosted on the Geograph website that form the basis of the change in the listed name of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps published in 1900

The Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps formed the base map Ordnance Survey used for many decades leading to the production of the 1:10,000 Series of maps, both have now been superseded by the digitised Master Map.  The series of Six-Inch maps are excellent for name placement and especially so compared to the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map, and it is the series of Six-Inch maps that name the plantation where the summit of this hill is situated as firstly Planhigfa Penllyn in the 1900 publication and later as Penllyn Wood in the 1953 publication.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps published in 1953

However, it is the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map that uses the full Welsh term for this wood and names it as Coed Penllyn.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau is Coed Penllyn, and this was derived from the foundations of the name appearing on the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps and lastly with the name appearing in its full Welsh form on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Hiraethog

Name:  Coed Penllyn

Previously Listed Name:  Pen Coed y Bortho 

OS 1:50,000 map:  115

Summit Height:  198.0m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SH 78630 69665 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  170.9m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SH 78892 70134 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  27.1m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (June 2026)