Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales

Graig Fawr (SJ 096 226) 

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales, with the summit height, bwlch height and their locations, the drop and status of the hill derived from detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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

Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales – Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height that have 30m minimum drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the Sub-Trichant, with the criteria for this sub category being all Welsh hills at or above 300m and below 400m in height with 20m or more and below 30m of drop.  The list is authored by Myrddyn Phillips with the Introduction to the list and the renaming of it appearing on Mapping Mountains on the 13^th May 2017, and the Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of the list appearing on the 1^st January 2022. 

Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales by Myrddyn Phillips

The hill is adjoined to the Foel Cedig group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with minor roads to its north, west and south, and the B4391 road to its east, and has the town of Llanfyllin towards the south-east.

The hill appeared in the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Cefn Lle-oer, which is a prominent name that appears to the north-east of the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map and which the Tithe map indicates does not apply to land taking in the summit of this hill.

Cefn Lle-oer

333m

SJ096226

125

239

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 on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps and presume it that of the hill.  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 791 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 Graig Fawr in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Pennant and in the county named as Montgomery. 

Extract from the apportionments

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Graig Fawr and this was derived from the Tithe map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Foel Cedig 

Name:  Graig Fawr 

Previously Listed Name:  Cefn Lle-oer 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125 

Summit Height:  334m (spot height)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 09677 22687 (hand-held GPS via DoBIH) 

Bwlch Height:  293m (spot height) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 10414 22998 (spot height) 

Drop:  41m (spot height summit and bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (July 2022)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – Y Pedwarau

Graig Fawr (SJ 197 588)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales, with the summit height and its position confirmed from LIDAR analysis conducted by Aled Williams.

Graig Fawr (SJ 197 588)

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

Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales.  Welsh hills at or above 400m and below 500m in height with 30m minimum drop, accompanying the main Y Pedwarau list are five categories of sub hills, with this hill being listed in the 400m Sub-Pedwar category.  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.

The hill is adjoined to the Moel y Gamelin group of hills, which are situated in the north-eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A2), and it is positioned with the A494 road and the Afon Alun (River Alyn) to its north-west and the B5430 road to its south, and has the town of Rhuthun (Ruthin) towards the west.

As the authors did not know an appropriate name for this hill either from local enquiry or historic documentation it was listed under the point (Pt. 403m, Bryn Alyn) notation in the 1^st edition of the Y Pedwarau published by Europeaklist in May 2013, with the Bryn Alyn component being a name that appears relatively close to the summit of this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps.

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

Since publication of the 1^st edition of Y Pedwarau there are now a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which is entitled the Interactive Coverage Map.  One of the historic maps now available is the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the first publicly available Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map and it is this map that formed the basis for the change in this hill’s listed name.

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Surveyor’s surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced from these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is the Draft Surveyors map that name the hill as Graig Fawr.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

Although the name of Bryn Alyn appears close to the summit of this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps it is applicable to a farm and not necessarily the hill, as evidenced by its position given on the Ordnance Surveys series of Six-Inch maps.

Extract from the Ordnance Survey series of Six-Inch maps

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is Graig Fawr, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Moel y Gamelin

Name:  Graig Fawr

Previously Listed Name:  Pt. 403m, Bryn Alyn

OS 1:50,000 map:  116

Summit Height:  403.7m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 19712 58866 (LIDAR)

Bwlch Height:  c 377m (interpolation)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 19939 58832 (interpolation)

Drop:  c 27m

Myrddyn Phillips and Aled Williams (October 2019)