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

Wriddiog (SJ 186 426) 

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 conducted by Myrddyn Phillips. 

Wriddiog (SJ 186 426)

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 Craig Berwyn group of hills, which are situated in the eastern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the A5 road to its north and west, and a minor road to its south-east, and has the town of  Llangollen towards the east south-east. 

The hill appeared in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Pen-y-Vivod, which is a prominent name that appears to the south of the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Pen-y-Vivod

335m

SJ186426

125

255/256

 

During my early hill listing I paid little regard to name placement on the map, or the meaning of names and to what feature the name was appropriately applied to.  Therefore, I prioritised names for listing purposes that I now understand are either inappropriate or where another name is viewed as being more appropriate, with the previously listed name of Pen-y-Vivod presumed to be that of the hill, when it is a name of a house.  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. 

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

Since publication of these P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of Ordnance Survey maps made available online, some of these are historic such as the series of Six-Inch maps on the National Library of Scotland website, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the old Vector Map Local hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map and the interactive mapping available on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  Two of the historic maps now available online are the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map which formed the basis for the first publicly available Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is these maps that form the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill. 

The Draft Surveyors maps consist of the preliminary drawings made by the Ordnance Survey surveyors between the 1780s and 1840 and formed the basis for the first publicly available One-Inch map.  They were drawn at scales of six inches to the mile for areas considered of particular military significance and down to two inches to the mile for other areas.  Fair copies were then produced from these preliminary drawings to one inch to the mile and then copper plates were prepared for printing.  The Draft Surveyors maps for the whole of Wales are now available online and they form an important part in the study of Welsh upland place-names as they bridge the time frame between the late 18^th century and the mid-19^th century when the Ordnance Survey produced their first One-Inch maps, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is this map that shows the name of Wriddiog positioned across this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map

The One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map was the first map that 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, and importantly for this hill and its listed name, it is also the One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map that names the area taking in this hill as Wriddiog. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map

Therefore, the name this hill is now listed by in the Y Trichant – The 300m Hills of Wales is Wriddiog, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map and the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Craig Berwyn 

Name:  Wriddiog 

Previously Listed Name:  Pen-y-Vivod 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Height:  336.2m (Trimble GeoXH 6000)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 18662 42685 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Height:  273.9m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 18628 42292 (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

Drop:  62.3m (Trimble GeoXH 6000) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (April 2022)

 

 

 

  

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Y Berwyn

26.10.15  Wriddiog (SJ 186 426)  

Wriddiog (SJ 186 426)

Picking which hill to visit is sometimes like the act of hoovering; as they can be bagged one by one with the area covered slowly expanding outward, until all available hills have been neatly hoovered up.  For me, one hill remained near to the A5 road next to Llangollen, I’d often looked up at this hill as I traveled west to the higher hills of Eryri, but until today I had not visited, and the opportunity to do so presented itself this morning with a suggestion of a 2.30pm appointment at the Corn Mill in Llangollen for afternoon coffee and tea.  This gave me just enough time beforehand to bag and Trimble the hill.

The hill is listed as Pen-y-Vivod in the original Welsh 300m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, but this is the name of a house to the south of the summit, and it is now listed as Wriddiog, with this name documented on the Ordnance Survey Draft Surveyors map, the Ordnance Survey One-Inch 'Old Series' map and online sources.

There is adequate parking at the base of the hill just off the busy A5 as it swings westward; this is conveniently next to where a public footpath climbs the steep brackened slopes toward this hill’s critical bwlch.

As I left the car I peered skyward at a graying view where the summits of the higher hills were cloud skimmed, all around was a multitude of autumnal colour with dulled browns mixed with yellows and orange, but with no direct sunlight to accentuate these wonderful colours, the scene remained one of still beauty.

Autumnal colours with the higher Moel y Gamelin hills skimmed with cloud

I marched up the steep path as the breeze increased in strength and followed the fence line northward toward the summit; to my left was the conifer plantation that swamps this hill’s northern and western slopes.  A vehicle track on the upper hillside led toward the high point of the hill. 

Once at the summit I set the Trimble on top of my rucksack, to give it elevation and an increased chance of logging into the required satellites for data collection quicker than if it was placed on the ground beside the ridge fence which crosses the summit of this hill.  However, the breeze was too strong and the Trimble persistently wobbled when on top of the rucksack, so I put it on the ground and hoped that its 0.1m accuracy level before data should be logged would be achieved before my legs started to get cold.  Thankfully it only took a couple of minutes before I pressed ‘Log’ and as it gathered its allotted five minutes of data I waited down slope and peered out in to the increasing gloom.

Gathering data at the summit of Wriddiog

Packing the Trimble away I headed back down the hill and found its critical bwlch to be positioned in a field close to the house named Pen-y-Vivod.  As it gathered data I hoped no one would appear from the house and ask what on earth I was doing, thankfully no one did, and once data were gathered I visited the house to make place-name enquiries.  Unfortunately no one was in, so I re-joined my inward route and sauntered back to my car, changed, and headed into Llangollen and the delights of the Corn Mill and my afternoon appointment.

Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Wriddiog

Survey Result:

Wriddiog (significant name change)

Summit Height:  336.2m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 18662 42685

Bwlch Height:  273.9m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 18628 42292

Drop:  62.3m

Dominance:  18.53%

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