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

Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

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 a Trimble GeoXH 6000 survey and subsequent LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.

Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

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 Stiperstones group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of South Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2), and it is positioned with the B4393 road to its north-east, the A483 road to its west and the A458 road to its south, and has the town of Y Trallwng (Welshpool) towards the south-west.

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 and invented name of Oak Plantation Top, with an accompanying note stating; Name from wood to the North-West.

Oak Plantation Top

381m

SJ275084

126

216

Name from wood to the North-West

  

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, with little consideration for the meaning of the name and where it was appropriately applied to.  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 wood and add the word Top 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

When I visited the hill I met Karen and Brian Morris who farm from Longmountain Farm, whose land the summit of this hill is situated on.  I had already made enquiries with Brian’s brother who farms the lower fields adjoined to this hill, and they all confirmed that they know this hill as being a part of the Long Mountain.  The name is given as Cefn Digoll in the listing of Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales as it is appropriate to list by the Welsh form of the name.  Karen and Brian explained that they refer to a number of high fields on their farm by names, including the Mast Field, Behind the School, Top of the Gallop, The Patch and the Pond Field, with the high point of the hill being situated in the field they refer to as Behind the School.  The school in this instance is occasionally used for schooling horses.

Karen and Brian Morris of Longmountain Farm

Prior to visiting this hill I had studied 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.

The enclosed land where the summit of the hill is situated is given the number 69A on the Tithe map

The enclosed land where the summit of this hill is situated is given the number 69A on the Tithe map, with the field as it is today having consisted of two parts at the time of the Tithe, with the other part being given the number 69, these numbers 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 Enclosure with the other part of the field named as Part of Enclosure on the Tithe map; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Buttington.  However, as the term Enclosure is generic it is inappropriate to use this word for the name of a hill when listing.

When cross referenced in the apportionments the enclosed land is given a generic term of Inclosure

Before thanking Karen and Brian for their time, they suggested that I visit Keith Davies who still occasionally farms and now lives lower on the hill next to the Hope Lane.  Keith grew up on the western side of the hill which his father farmed, with The Mill and Cletterwood farms being mentioned.  Keith confirmed that he had never heard a separate name being given to this hill and knows it as the Long Mountain (the whole of Cefn Digoll [Long Mountain in English] takes in the 408.3m summit at SJ 264 058 as well as the 381.6m summit at SJ 275 084.

As I talked with Keith he pointed through his living room window to a slightly raised point and told me that it is known as the Cap of Trewern, this is situated at approximately SJ 26663 08675 and looked as if it consists of rougher ground with an occasional gorse bush on it as opposed to the manicured green grazing fields adjoined to it.  He also told me that the land leading up to the forest boundary is known as The Pinnacle, this land is placed at approximately SJ 264 078. 

Keith Davies with the northern lands of Cefn Digoll in the background

We then concentrated on the land that takes in the hill adjoined to the Longmountain Farm, and Keith explained that until 1920 the upper part of this land was a holding adjoined to Buttington Old Hall, (this holding takes in the land between SJ 28528 08667, SJ 28088 09012, SJ 26883 08067 and SJ 27813 07794) with this land being added to the holdings of the Hall at a later date compared to their other lands, and it was known as the Bytak.

The meaning of the word Bytak is given below and my thanks to Aled Williams for supplying the following details:

beitac, beutac

[bnth. S. taf. by-tack] 

Tyddyn neu fferm lle nad yw’r tenant yn byw, a gymerir yn ychwanegol at fferm fwy:

By-tack (smallholding or farm where the tenant does not live, taken in addition to a larger farm.

1953 I. Ff. Elis: CC 64, Yr oedd Tyddyn Argain yn llawer rhy werthfawr fel beitac i bori bustych tewion.

Ar lafar, ‘Beutac y gelwir tyddyn neu fferm a gymerir at un arall’, B i. 194 (sir Drefn.); ‘Beutac’ ‘a by-take, fferm delir ei thir gan amaethwr fferm arall’, Cymruli. 52 (dwyrain sir Drefn.)

Cf. 1873 Mont Coll 245, Bytak, a small farm, generally held with a larger one by the same tenant. The bytak usually consists of a few acres of ground with a hovel thereon.  The word is common in Welsh-speaking counties.

The Elis reference says that Beutac is used in eastern Montgomeryshire.  The word is a borrowing from English - so both spellings of the word would be applicable to Cefn Digoll.

As the land known as the Bytak has been adjoined to Longmountain Farm since 1920, it is no longer referred to by this name as this term applied to the land prior to this date and not to the land at the present date.    

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales is Cefn Digoll, as it forms a part of the extended hill known as the Long Mountain, with the protocol of the Welsh name taking precedence for listing purposes, and with the caveat that the current farmers know the field where the summit of the hill is situated as Behind the School, and that the land taking in the whole of the summit area of this hill was known up until 1920 as the Bytak.

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Stiperstones

Name:  Cefn Digoll

Previously Listed Name:  Oak Plantation Top 

OS 1:50,000 map:  126

Summit Height:  381.6m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 27538 08462 & SJ 27541 08460 & SJ 27543 08461 (LIDAR) 

 

Bwlch Height:  343.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 27824 07953 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  38.5m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2017)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Stiperstones

20.03.17  Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

The northern section of Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

My mother once told me that when she married and moved to Welshpool one of the first things my father did was point toward the hill to the east of the town and say ‘that is the Long Mountain’.  This hill dominates the view to the east and forms a natural barrier that over the years has been exploited as a boundary between the Welsh and English, with the modern border running on the eastward side of the broad summit ridge.  The hill is known in Welsh as Cefn Digoll, which can be translated in to English as the unbroken mountain.  The high point is known as the Beacon Ring or Caer Digoll in Welsh and has mixed woodland submerging its triangulation pillar, with the remains of an impressive Iron Age earthen embankment encircling the summit area.

Although the high point of Cefn Digoll is well known and visited by many people each year, the extended hill also has another prominent summit towards its north, this latter summit is almost forgotten but affords good views and quiet surrounds.  However, its high point is not on open access land so permission to visit should be sought.

This northern summit of Cefn Digoll is one of the closest P30 hills to where I live, and yet up until today I had never visited.  The morning’s rain persisted until early afternoon with damp grey sky slowly ebbing to the first sign of blue as I joined Ed in the Royal Oak for an hour’s catch up over coffee.  Once back home I decided to head out and quickly packed all necessary gear. 

The broad summit ridge of Cefn Digoll has a minor lane running from south to north which affords a high starting point if so wished.  I parked in a mud strewn lay-by close to the paved access lane to the Longmountain Farm.  Before venturing up the lane I chatted with a man who was digging a hole to erect a farm sign, he was the brother of the farmer from the Longmountain Farm and grazed some of the lower fields on the hill.  We chatted at length before I continued up the access lane toward a public footpath that heads across a couple of fields.

Ahead, the sun skimmed off the lower fields of the Severn valley which shone silver like without detail but with a friendly embrace.  I followed the footpath before heading toward the hill’s high point using gates to gain access.  Once on the summit I assessed the lay of land and chose the clump of grass I judged to be the highest, and then set the Trimble on top of my rucksack after taking a measurement offset from its internal antenna to the ground at the base of the rucksack and stood back whilst five minutes of data were gathered.

The view of the Breiddin from the summit of Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

Gathering data at the summit area of Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

Once I packed the Trimble away I headed toward the adjacent field where a mast rose skyward, a gate then led me in to the yard of Longmountain Farm.  I knocked on a couple of doors and spoke to the mother in law of the farmer, and just as I thanked her for her time and was about to set off back to my car a vehicle pulled up, the first words weren’t encouraging; ‘you shouldn’t be here you know, what are you doing here?’  Karen and Brian Morris were rightly questioning what I was doing wandering around in their yard; I introduced myself and explained that I’d met Brian’s brother at the end of the paved lane and that I was interested in place-name research for the Welsh hills and particularly for the high point of their hill.  We chatted for 20 minutes or so and I left with smiles and a wave goodbye.

Karen and Brian Morris of Longmountain Farm

The view of the bwlch with the Stiperstones in the background

By the time I reached the bottom of the paved lane Brian’s brother was hard at work digging out a trench to insert a water pipe having erected his farm sign, we chatted again and I asked permission to visit the adjacent field having already explained the fineries of the Trimble.  A few minutes later having assessed the land at the bwlch, the Trimble was atop my rucksack gathering its all-important data.

Gathering data at the bwlch

The bwlch consists of a large greened field with a pond like puddle close to where I judged the critical point to be placed.  As the Trimble gathered its customary five minutes of data I wandered the periphery of the pond and took in the view as the low sun cast illuminated colour on the land.

Packing the Trimble away I walked back to the gate and the minor lane toward my car.  It had been an enjoyable 1½ hours mainly spent waiting for the Trimble to gather its allotted data and chatting with local farmers, an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

LIDAR image of Cefn Digoll (SJ 275 084)

Postscript:

Since the survey of this hill full LIDAR coverage is now available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for this hill has been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for the summit of this hill prioritised over that produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000.

Survey Result:

Cefn Digoll (significant name change)

Summit Height:  381.6m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 27538 08462 & SJ 27541 08460 & SJ 27543 08461 (LIDAR) 

Bwlch Height:  343.1m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 27824 07953 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Drop:  38.5m (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)

Dominance:  10.09% (LIDAR summit and Trimble GeoXH 6000 bwlch)

  

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet