Mynydd yr Ychen (SN 768
794)
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, bwlch height and their
locations, the drop and status of the hill confirmed by 1m DSM LIDAR analysis
conducted by Aled Williams.
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| LIDAR image of Mynydd yr Ychen (SN 768 794) |
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 that have 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 Elenydd group of hills, which are
situated in the northern part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B2),
and it is positioned with the A4120
road and the Afon Rheidol to its west, and the A44 road to its north, and has
the small community of Pontarfynach (Devil’s Bridge) towards the south-west and
the village of Ponterwyd towards the north-west.
The hill was listed in the 1st edition
of the Y Pedwarau published by
Europeaklist in May 2013 under the point (Pt. 459m) notation, as the authors could
not substantiate either from local enquiry and / or historic research the land applicable
to Mynydd yr Ychen, which is a prominent name that appears close to the summit
of this hill on contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger and 1:25,000
Explorer maps, and which can be traced back to the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old
Series’ map.
 |
| Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map |
The One-Inch ‘Old
Series’ map was the first map that the Ordnance Survey produced, and their
publication culminated from the whole of Britain being surveyed between 1791
and 1874 and the detail gathered therein produced at a scale of one inch to the
mile and published in sheet format between 1805 and 1874. The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ maps for the whole
of Wales are now available online; they are also available in map format as
enlarged and re-projected versions to match the scale and dimensions of the
Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger series and are published by Cassini. This series of maps form another important
part in the study of Welsh upland place-names and bridge the timeframe leading
up to the production of the Ordnance Survey base map of the Six-Inch series.
 |
| Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map |
Since publication of the
1st edition of Y Pedwarau
the Tithe maps for Wales have become available online. 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.
It is the Tithe map that confirms the adjacent
pieces of enclosed land adjoined to the summit of this hill and positioned north
of Nant Gwynion were once as one, and this confirms the placement of the name
of Mynydd yr Ychen on the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map as being
appropriate to use for the name of this hill.
Therefore, the name this hill is
now listed by in the Y Pedwarau – The 400m Hills of Wales is
Mynydd yr Ychen, and this was derived from contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:50,000
Landranger and 1:25,000 Explorer maps, with its placement on the Ordnance
Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map confirmed via the Tithe map.
The full details for the
hill are:
Group: Elenydd
Name: Mynydd yr Ychen
Previously Listed
Name: Pt. 459m
OS 1:50,000 map: 135, 147
Summit Height: 459.92m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid
Reference: SN 76846 79456 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 439.92m (LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid
Reference: SN 77052 79547 (LIDAR)
Drop: 20.0m (LIDAR)
Myrddyn Phillips and
Aled Williams (January 2020)
