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

 

Ffridd y Garn (SN 616 987) 

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 Ffridd y Garn (SN 616 987)

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. 

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 Tarren y Gesail group of hills, which are situated in the south-western part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with a minor road to its north-east, and the A493 road to its west and south, and has the town of Tywyn towards the north-west.

When the original 100m height band of Welsh P30 hills were published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, this hill appeared under the transposed name of Llechwedd Melyn, which is a prominent name that appears near the summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.

Llechwedd Melyn

196m

SN616988

135

23

Clem/Yeaman

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 a prominent name that appears near the summit on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer map.  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 1029 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 Ffridd y Garn in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Tywyn and in the county named as Merioneth.  With the enclosed land to the east of the summit named Llechwedd and the enclosed land to the south-east of the summit named Gribin, both of these names are complimentary to ones that appear on the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps. 

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 Ffridd y Garn, and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Tarren y Gesail

Name:  Ffridd y Garn

Previously Listed Name:  Llechwedd Melyn   

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

Summit Height:  196.35m (LIDAR) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 61647 98777 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  94.9m (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SN 61953 98391 (LIDAR) 

Drop:  101.5m (LIDAR) 

Dominance:  51.67% (LIDAR) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (September 2024)

Mapping Mountains – Hill Reclassifications – Humps

Llechwedd Melyn (SN 616 987) – Subhump reclassified to Hump

This is the third 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 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 third email I posted on the RHB Yahoo Group forum was dated 09.04.12.

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 the 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 09.04.12.

Prior to this notification Mark Jackson had listed this hill as a Subhump with c 98m of drop, however with a 196m summit spot height on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and a 96m spot height appearing on the area of this hill’s bwlch on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website, these values give this hill 100m of drop, which is sufficient for it to be reclassified to Hump status.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping hosted on the Geograph website showing the 96m spot height on the area of this hill's bwlch and its 196m summit spot height

The hill appears under the name of Llechwedd Melyn in the Humps, with this name having appeared in the original 100m Welsh P30 list published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website and which was derived from Ordnance Survey maps.  As this hill comprises bounded land its details were examined on the Tithe map to the parish of Tywyn, and the enclosed land at the summit of the hill is named Ffridd y Garn on this map, with the enclosed land to the east of the summit named Llechwedd and the enclosed land to the south-east named Gribin.  The latter name matches that used on the Ordnance Survey enlarged mapping on the Geograph website, whilst the name Llechwedd is complimentary to the name Llechwedd Melyn and is applicable to the eastern lower slopes of this hill, whilst the enclosed land taking in the summit of this hill is named Ffridd y Garn.

The hill is adjoined to the Tarennydd range of hills and is situated overlooking the Happy Valley which is to its north-east and the A493 road and the coast which is to its west, with the town of Tywyn positioned to the north-west of the hill.

The addition of this hill to Hump status was accepted by Mark Jackson and its new classification augmented in to the listing of the Humps on the 18.04.12.

The full details for the hill are:

Name:  Llechwedd Melyn (as listed in the Humps)

Summit Height:  196m

OS 1:50,000 map:  135

OS 1:25,000 map:  23

Summit Grid Reference:  SN 61632 98767

Drop:  100m

Myrddyn Phillips (August 2017)