Pen Twmp (SM 988 329)
There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill
that is listed in the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with
the bwlch height and its Dominant
status confirmed via LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.
The criteria for the listings that this name
change applies to are:
200m Twmpau – All Welsh hills at or above 200m and below 300m
in height that have 30m minimum drop, with the word Twmpau being an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward.
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 addition Welsh P30 hills whose
prominence is 33% or more and below 50% 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 3rd December 2015.
The hill is adjoined to the
Mynydd Preseli group of hills, which are situated in
the south-western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B4), and it
is positioned with the A 40 road to its west and the B 4313 road to its north
and has the Nant y Bugail to its south-west and the River Aer to its
north-north-east, and has the town of Abergwaun (Fishguard) towards the
north-west.
The hill originally appeared in the 200m P30 list
on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the invented name of Bryn Pentre-newydd with an accompanying
note stating; Name from buildings to the North-East.
Bryn Pentre-newydd
|
217m
|
157
|
35
|
Name from buildings to the North-East.
|
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. 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.
During the initial compilation of the Dominant list I made a number of place-name
enquiries for qualifying hills, including this one. I was put in contact with Elin Evans and
Julian Fry, at the time of our conversation Elin was a school teacher and Julian
a web master for a site concentrating on Llanychaer, this being the small
community where they lived. Elin’s grandfather
grew up at Penlan (SM 997 333), and her parents; John and Rhian Evans lived in the
bungalow adjoined to the farm of Cronllwyn (SM 986 348), therefore her family have
lived beside this hill for at least three generations.
On the day I phoned, Elin’s parents were upset as
one of their sheep dogs had been put down, therefore Julian offered to speak
with John and Rhian at an opportune moment, and he later did so and phoned me
with details relating to this hill and its name. The name given Julian for this hill by Elin’s
parents; John and Rhian Evans is Pen Twmp.
Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in
the 200m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales
is Pen Twmp, and this name was derived from local enquiry.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Mynydd Preseli
Name: Pen Twmp
Previously Listed Name:
Bryn Pentre-newydd
Summit Height: 217m
OS 1:50,000 map: 157
Summit Grid Reference:
SM 98820 32984
Drop: 109m
Dominance: 50.09%
Myrddyn Phillips (August 2018)
