Mapping Mountains – Summit Relocations – Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales and 30-99m Twmpau

 

Daufraich (SM 661 236) 

There has been a Summit Relocation to a hill that is listed in the Y Pellennig – The Remotest Hills of Wales and the 30-99m Twmpau, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and its de-twinning reliant upon LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

Daufraich (SM 661 236)

The criteria for the two listings that this summit relocation applies to are:

Y Pellennig –The Remotest Hills of Wales - Welsh hills whose summit is at least 2.5km from the nearest paved public road and the hill has a minimum 15m of drop.  The list is co-authored by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams and is available as a downloadable e-booklet or print-booklet version on Mapping Mountains Publications with the up-to-date master list available on Mapping Mountains to download in Google Doc format. 

Y Pellennig - The Remotest Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams

30-99m Twmpau – Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m 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. 

30-99m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

The name the hill is listed by is Daufraich and it is adjoined to the Garn Fawr group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of South Wales (Region C2, Sub-Region C2A), and it is positioned on an island to the west of mainland Wales with a minor road on the mainland to its east, and has the city of Tyddewi (St David’s) on the mainland also towards the east.

When the original 30-99m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill was not included in the Hills to be surveyed sub list, as it was considered not to meet the criteria then used for this sub category. 

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

After the sub list was standardised, and interpolated heights and drop values also included the details for this hill were re-evaluated and it was listed with 21m of drop, based on the twin 21m summit spot heights positioned at SM 66198 23680 and SM 66173 23699 that appeared on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map. 

The summit area of Daufraich

Looking from the higher to the lower summit of Daufraich

However, it was not until the survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 and subsequent LIDAR analysis that the details for this hill could be accurately re-assessed.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales. 

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Daufraich (SM 661 236)

The height produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey to the summit of this hill is 21.7m and is positioned at SM 66199 23673, with LIDAR giving the other top as 21.4m positioned at SM 66200 23673, and this comes within the parameters of the Summit Relocations used within this page heading, these parameters are:

The term Summit Relocations applies when the high point of the hill is found to be positioned; in a different field, to a different feature such as in a conifer plantation,  within a different map contour either on Ordnance Survey maps or interactive mapping, to a different point where a number of potential summit positions are within close proximity, when natural ground or the natural and intact summit of a hill is confirmed compared to a higher point such as a raised field boundary or covered reservoir that is considered a relatively recent man-made construct, or the listing of a new twin summit or de-twinning of a summit, or a relocation of approximately 100 metres or more in distance from either the position of a map spot height or from where the summit of the hill was previously thought to exist. 

LIDAR image of Daufraich (SM 661 236)

Therefore, the new listed summit height of this hill is 21.7m and this is positioned at SM 66199 23673 and this was derived from a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey, this matches the approximate position of one of the spot heights and has resulted in the de-twinning of this hill.

 

ills of Wales, and are reproduced below@

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Garn Fawr

Name:  Daufraich

OS 1:50,000 map:  157

Summit Height:  21.7m (converted to OSGM15) 

Summit Grid Reference (New Position):  SM 66199 23673 

Bwlch Height:  N/A (island) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  N/A (island) 

Drop:  21.7m 

Remoteness:  6.450km

 

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (September 2026)