West Park (SR 940 990)
There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is
listed in the 30-99m Twmpau and Y Trechol – The Dominant Hills of Wales, with the summit height, drop and
status of the hill confirmed by LIDAR analysis conducted by Myrddyn Phillips.
The criteria for the two listings that this name change
applies to are:
30-99m Twmpau - Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 30m minimum
drop, with an accompanying sub list entitled the 30-99m Sub-Twmpau with the criteria for this sub category being all
Welsh hills at or above 30m and below 100m in height with 20m or more and below
30m of 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 33.33% or more and below 50% of their absolute height, with the
Introduction to the Mapping Mountains publication of this list appearing on the
3rd December 2015.
The hill is adjoined to the
Brandy Hill group of hills, which are situated in
the south-western part of Mid and West Wales (Region B, Sub-Region B4), and is
positioned between the B roads of the 4320 to the north and the 4319 to the
south, and has the town of Penfro (Pembroke) towards the north-east.
The hill originally appeared in the 30-99m P30
list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website under the name of Axton Hill, which is a name that consistently appears on Ordnance
Survey maps beside a minor road to the south-west of the summit and not
necessarily applicable to the hill itself.
Axton Hill
|
80c
|
158
|
36
|
Hill list authors are prone to list a hill by the
name that appears nearest to its summit on contemporary Ordnance Survey maps,
without much consideration for its local or historical confirmation, or whether
map placement is appropriate. 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 historical 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 451 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 West Park in the apportionments, with the details on the Tithe map appearing in the parish of Moncton and in the
county named as Pembroke.
 |
| Extract from the apportionments |
Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in
the 30-99m Twmpau is West Park, and
this was derived from the Tithe map.
The full details for the hill are:
Group: Brandy Hill
Name: West Park
Previously Listed Name:
Axton Hill
Summit Height: 81.7m
(LIDAR)
Summit Grid
Reference: SR 94023 99001 (LIDAR)
Bwlch Height: 51.3m
(LIDAR)
Bwlch Grid
Reference: SR 94747 99655 (LIDAR)
Drop: 30.4m (LIDAR)
Dominance: 37.19%
Myrddyn Phillips (December 2018)
