Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales

Pt. 428.2m (SN 731 497) 

There has been a Significant Name Change that is retrospective to a hill listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps, with confirmation of the status from subsequent LIDAR analysis. 

LIDAR image of Pt. 428.2m (SN 731 497) 

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

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being classified as a 400m Sub-Pedwar.  The criteria for 400m Sub-Pedwar status being all Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height that have 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is published on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format.

Y Pedwarau - The 400m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

The hill is adjoined to the Esgair Wen group of hills, which are situated in the central part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and is positioned with minor roads to its north, west, south and east, and has the village of Llanddewi Brefi towards the north-west.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 400m P30 list compiled by Myrddyn Phillips and published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed and invented name of Carn Nant-yr-ast East Top, with an accompanying note stating; Name from hill to the West.

Carn Nant-yr-ast East Top

427m

SN732497

146/147

187

Name from hill to the West

When Myrddyn Phillips first compiled this list he 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.  His preference was to use farm names and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of them or as in this instance use a directional name based on supplanting the name of a near hill and adding a directional component to it.  This is not a practice that he now advocates 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 notation, and this is the protocol adopted when Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams became co-authors of this list and the 1^st edition of the Y Pedwarau was published by Europeaklist in May 2013.  This hill was then listed under the point (Pt. 427m) notation with an estimated c 30m of drop, based on the 427m summit spot height that appears on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated c 397m bwlch height, based on interpolation of 10m contouring between 390m – 400m.

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is Pt. 428.2m, and this is being used as the authors have not found an appropriate name for the hill either through historic research and/or local enquiry.

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Esgair Wen 

Name:  Pt. 428.2m 

Previously Listed Name:  Carn Nant-yr-ast East Top 

OS 1:50,000 map:  146, 147 

Summit Height:  428.2m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 73159 49742 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  399.0m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 72736 49808 & SN 72739 49810 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  29.2m (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (August 2026)