Bwlch Mawr (SH 777 755)
There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill
that was listed in the 100m Twmpau,
with the summit height, its location, the drop and status of the hill confirmed
by LIDAR analysis, and a subsequent summit survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000
conducted by Myrddyn Phillips, with the latter taking place on the 10th
October 2018.
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| LIDAR image of Bwlch Mawr |
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 with 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.
The hill is adjoined to the Carneddau group of
hills, which are situated in the
north-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A1), and it is positioned with the B5106 road to its west
and the Afon Conwy (River Conwy) to its east, and has the town of Conwy towards
its north.
When the origin 100m height band of Welsh P30
hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, the north-easterly 130m
map heighted summit positioned at SH 781 758 and listed as Cae Alen was prioritised
for P30 status over that of the south-westerly small uppermost 130m contour
ring positioned at SH 777 755.
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| Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map |
The details for this hill were re-assessed when
the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local became available online, this map is
hosted on the Geograph website and is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map,
and as an uppermost contour ring should be prioritised over that of a same map
heighted spot height the south-westerly point positioned at SH 777 755 was now
prioritised for P30 status and listed under the name of Iolyn Park. This is a name that appears on contemporary
Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps and is placed
relatively close to this hill’s summit.
It was not until LIDAR became available and
analysed 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, and although LIDAR and the survey with the Trimble
GeoXH 6000 confirm that Cae Alen (SH 78116 75814) is in fact higher than the
summit positioned at SH 777 755 and the status of the P30 reverts to its
original listed summit, it is still worthwhile documenting the change in this
hill’s listed name.
Before visiting this hill I met Richard Davies; an
employee at the Gorse Hill Caravan Park, which takes in land to the immediate
south of this hill. During our
conversation Richard referred to the hill as Bwlch Mawr, which is the name of
the farm near to its summit and which appears on the Ordnance Survey Vector Map
Local hosted on the Geograph website.
After visiting the adjacent southerly hill of Bryn Eithin (SH 77584
75224) I met the owner of the Gorse Hill Caravan Park; Rob Thomas-Evelyn, who also
gave me the name of Bwlch Mawr for this hill and told me that the hill is known
after the name of the farm.
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| Extract from the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map |
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 78 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 Bwlch mawr in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Gyffin and in the
county named as Carnarvon [sic].
 |
| Extract from the apportionments |
Therefore, the name this hill is now documented as
is Bwlch Mawr, and this was derived from local enquiry and substantiated by the
Tithe map.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Carneddau
Name: Bwlch Mawr
Previously Listed Name:
Iolyn Park
OS 1:50,000 map: 115
Summit Height: 128.4m
(converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference:
SH 77790 75561
Bwlch Height: 110.9m
(LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid Reference:
SH 78016 75713 (LIDAR)
Drop: 17.5m (Trimble
summit and LIDAR bwlch)
Myrddyn Phillips (April 2019)
