Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales

Cae Llan (SN 458 223) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop, dominance and status of the hill derived from LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

LIDAR image of Cae Llan (SN 458 223)

The criteria for the two listings 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, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward. 

The 100m Twmpau by Myrddyn Phillips

Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales – Welsh P30 hills whose prominence equal or exceed half that of their absolute height.  With the criteria for Lesser Dominant status being those additional Welsh P30 hills whose prominence is between one third and half that of their absolute height.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the start of the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the 3^rd December 2015, and the list is now available in its entirety on Mapping Mountains in Google Doc format. 

Y Trechol - The Dominant Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Pencarreg group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B1), and it is positioned encircled by minor roads, with the B485 road farther to its west, the A40 road farther to its south and the B4310 road farther to its east, and has the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the west south-west.

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 100m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the invented and transposed name of Banc-y-Pantyglien, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the South.

Banc-y-Pantyglien

164m

SN458223

159

177

Trig pillar. Name from buildings to the South.

 

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.  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 farm and add the words Banc-y- 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. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer 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 1690 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 Cae Llan in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Abergwili and in the county named as Carmarthen. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the 100m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales is Cae Llan, and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Mynydd Pencarreg

Name:  Cae Llan

Previously Listed Name:  Banc-y-Pantyglien   

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

Summit Height:  163.8m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 45820 22319 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  76.7m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 46536 22522 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  87.2m (LIDAR) 

Dominance:  53.20% (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2022)

  

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Humps

Pen Gilfach-y-rhew (SN 458 223) – Subhump deletion

This is the seventh in a series of Hill Reclassification posts that detail hills whose status has been altered in the listing of the Humps (HUndred Metre Prominences) through map study and / or surveys that I have instigated.

The hill name used in this and forthcoming posts is that used in the listing of Humps, therefore individual names and their composition may not match those that are used in listings I am directly associated with.  However, I am of firm belief that listed hill names used by other authors should be respected when giving detail within other people’s lists, however inappropriate some hill names may be considered.

This and forthcoming posts are retrospective as many of these hill reclassifications were initiated from studying the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping that is hosted on the Geograph website, and for the reclassifications that affected the Humps the email I posted on the RHB Yahoo Group forum in relation to this hill was dated 01.05.12.

The listing of Humps was published in book format by Lulu in 2009 and entitled More Relative Hills of Britain, its author; Mark Jackson gives credit to a number of people who contributed toward the formation of this list, these include; Eric Yeaman, Alan Dawson, Clem Clements, Rob Woodall, Bernie Hughes, Pete Ridges and others.  When the list was published in book format there were 2987 Humps listed with their criteria being any British hill that has 100m or more of drop, accompanying the main list is a sub category entitled Subhumps, with the criteria being any British hill that has 90m or more and below 100m of drop.

More Relative Hills of Britain by Mark Jackson

The details for the reclassification appear below:

There has been a reclassification to the listing of the Humps (HUndred Metre Prominences) due to consulting the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping that is hosted on the Geograph website, with these details being posted on the RHB Yahoo Group forum on 01.05.12.

Prior to this notification Mark Jackson had listed this hill as a Subhump with c 92m of drop based on the 164m summit spot height given to a triangulation pillar on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map and an estimated bwlch height of c 72m based on bwlch contouring at 10m intervals, interpolation of bwlch contouring was helped by the use of 5m contour intervals on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website and the use of a 77m spot height centralised on the area of the bwlch, and when coupled with this hill’s 164m summit spot height these values give this hill 87m of drop, which is insufficient for it to retain its Subhump status.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website showing the 5m contour intervals at the bwlch and the 77m spot height

The hill appears under the name of Pen Gilfach-y-rhew in the listing of the Humps, this is an invented name based on the name of the farm to the north-west of the hill’s summit.  As this hill comprises bounded land its details were examined on the Tithe map to the parish of Abergwili, and the enclosed land at the summit of this hill where the triangulation pillar is situated is named Cae Llan.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Six-Inch map showing that Gilfach-y-rhew is the name of a farm and not the name of the hill

The hill is adjoined to the Mynydd Pencarreg range of hills and is situated overlooking the A40 road and the Afon Annell and Afon Tywi (River Towy) to the south-east, with the town of Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) towards the west south-west.

The deletion of this hill from Subhump status was accepted by Mark Jackson on the 06.05.12 and the listing of the Humps was updated accordingly.

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Pen Gilfach-y-rhew (as listed in the Humps)

Summit Height:  164m

OS 1:50,000 map:  159

OS 1:25,000 map:  177

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 45827 22317

Drop:  87m

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2017)