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

The Top (SO 092 887)

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 summit survey and subsequent LIDAR bwlch analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

The Top (SO 092 887)

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.

The hill is a part of the Cilfaesty range, which is a group of hills situated in the north-eastern part of Mid and West Wales, and it is positioned above the A 483 road and between the town of Y Drenewydd (Newtown) to its north and the small community of Dolfor to its south-east. 

The hill appeared in the 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the transposed name Pen-y-banc, with an accompanying note stating; Name from buildings to the North-East.  

Pen-y-banc

317m

SO092887

136

214

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 or as in this instance transpose the name of a farm and use it for that of the hill.  This is not a practice that I now advocate as with research either conducted locally or historically an appropriate name for the hill can usually be found.   

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

The name this hill is now listed by is The Top, and this was derived from local enquiry, with the below being an extract from the post relating to the survey of this hill:

I then contemplated calling in at Bank farm which is situated at the bwlch for the second and last hill of the day.  Deciding to leave the farm until after visiting the summit of the hill I proceeded down the narrow lane to the south-west of the summit, as I did so a vehicle appeared and as it looked as if it may have come from Bank farm I flagged it down.  I chatted with the driver for a few minutes; Gwyn Phillips was indeed the local farmer from Bank, and as the hill that I was interested in was straight above us I pointed its way and asked if he knew a name for it, ‘Just know it as The Top’, came the reply, I asked if he had ever heard any other name for it or if he knew of a field name for where the summit of the hill is situated, and he said ‘It’s on my land, but I’ve never heard another name for it’, with that I expressed my thanks and off he sped down towards the main road.

I later checked 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 Tithe map confirmed that the field where the summit of this hill is situated had no name given it at the time of the Tithe, and that the land was adjoined to Bank farm.  This information corresponds with the knowledge that the owner of this farm has, as he told me he had lived there all of his life and except for the name he referred to the hill as; The Top, he did not know another name for the hill or for the field where the summit is situated. 

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant - The 300m Hills of Wales is the The Top, and this was derived from local enquiry with Gwyn Phillips, who lives at Bank farm and whose land the summit of this hill is situated on.  

The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Cilfaesty

Name:  The Top

Previously Listed Name:  Pen-y-banc 

OS 1:50,000 map:  136

Summit Height:  315.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 09275 88714 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)  

Bwlch Height:  283.8m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 09279 88381 (LIDAR)

Drop:  31.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For details on the survey of The Top

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2016)

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Cilfaesty

20.04.16  Broomy Leasow (SO 093 881) and The Top (SO 092 887) 

The Top (SO 092 887)

Overlooking the mid-Walian town of Newtown and to its south are two small hills, given map heights of 317m and 327m respectively, each now consist of closely cropped grass and are no doubt grazed by those lovable little white hill wonders known as sheep.

These two hills are not crag happy marvels of ice age sculpture, but they are pleasing and quiet affairs where one is unlikely to be disturbed except for the possibility of a farmer on a quad bike or a sheep and lamb suckling in the spring sunshine.

Having parked beside a T-junction on a minor lane between the two hills and to their east I did contemplate surveying their bylchau, but decided that this may prove a lengthy exercise and that a quiet stroll in beautiful afternoon sunshine to the top of each hill was the order of the day.  I followed a public footpath before heading toward the high point of the 327m map heighted and more southerly of the two hills, the sun beat down in a refreshing way with early year clear clarity and welcome warmth.

After negotiating a fence I popped out on the summit and proceeded to assess the lay of land from a number of directions and placed the Trimble on the ground.  As it beeped its way to 300 separate datum points during its five minutes of data gathering I converted my walking trousers to shorts and exposed my legs to the first sun of the walking year.

Gathering data at the summit of Broomy Leasow

Just below the summit of the hill is a house named Little Bryn-bedwyn which I called at hoping to enquire about the name of the hill, no one was in, so I wandered down the lane, called in at another bungalow, with again no response, I then contemplated calling in at Bank farm which is situated at the bwlch for the second and last hill of the day.  Deciding to leave the farm until after visiting the summit of the hill I proceeded down the narrow lane to the south-west of the summit, as I did so a vehicle appeared and as it looked as if it may have come from Bank farm I flagged it down.  I chatted with the driver for a few minutes; Gwyn Phillips was indeed the local farmer from Bank, and as the hill that I was interested in was straight above us I pointed its way and asked if he knew a name for it, ‘Just know it as The Top’, came the reply, I asked if he had ever heard any other name for it or if he knew of a field name for where the summit of the hill is situated, and he said ‘It’s on my land, but I’ve never heard another name for it’, with that I expressed my thanks and off he sped down towards the main road.

The Top overlooking Bank farm

After meeting Gwyn I clambered over a fence and made my way to the top of the hill and proceeded to take data from two points, not surprisingly both of which I thought to be close in height.  Once data collection was complete I headed down toward Graig, which is another farm on a direct course to where my car was parked, on the way I became fixated on the colours of new growth in the hedgerow, these shot out succulently sharp and tender and alive with radiant colour, I stopped and took some photos and happily continued to my car.

Gathering data at the summit of The Top

Broomy Leasow from the summit of The Top, with the house of Little Bryn-bedwen on right and Bank farm below

Succulent new growth

Once back home I examined the online Tithe maps for field names for the two hills I’d visited, these are listed as Bryn-bedwen and Pen-y-banc in the original P30 lists that are published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, both names are taken from near farms, a practice that I now consider unsatisfactory.  The online Tithe maps are slightly complicated in nature, but with a little perseverance I pinpointed each summit field, with the more northerly one being a part of the land of Bank farm and which has no name given it on the Tithe map, this information corresponds with the knowledge that the owner of this farm has, he told me he had lived there all of his life and except for the name he referred to the hill as; The Top, he did not know another name for the hill or for the field where the summit is situated. 

The more southerly hill is given the name of Bryn-bedwen in the original P30 lists, this name came from buildings to the south-west of the summit, with the house immediately below the summit to the north-west being named Little Bryn-bedwen.  As many Welsh farms take their name from the hill, or vice versa, one may think that giving this hill the name of Bryn-bedwen is appropriate, however the naming of farms after hills or vice versa is not always the case, and appointing a name to a hill should be a task undertaken with the same dedication that many spend with the appointment of the respective hill’s numerical data.  And the use of the Tithe map can show a multitude of names, especially so for the lower heighted hills.  If a Tithe map gives a field name for where the summit of the hill is situated this is more appropriate than using that of a farm which may have no association with the hill.

The field where the summit of the 325.6m hill at SO 093 881 is situated named as Broomy Leasow on the Tithe map

In the instance of the more southerly of these two hills the Tithe map gives a rather evocative name for the summit field; Broomy Leasow.  The word leasow means pasture or meadowland, whilst broomy means covered with or abounding in broom, broom being the flowering shrub.

LIDAR image of The Top (SO 092 887)

Postscript: 

Since the survey of these hills LIDAR has become available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for much of England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for these hills have been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR heights and positions for each bwlch being used.

Survey Result:

Broomy Leasow (significant name change)

Summit Height:  325.6m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 09332 88123 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  266.0m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 09478 87710 (LIDAR)

Drop:  59.6m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

Dominance:  18.31% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

  

The Top (significant name change)

Summit Height:  315.5m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 09275 88714 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)

Bwlch Height:  283.8m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 09279 88381 (LIDAR)

Drop:  31.7m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch) 

Dominance:  10.06% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR bwlch)

 

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}