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

 

Y Byrwydd (SJ 137 051 & SJ 135 050) 

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 detail on contemporary maps produced from Ordnance Survey data. 

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 Carnedd Wen group of hills, which are situated in the southern part of North Wales (Region A, Sub-Region A3), and it is positioned with the B4385 road to its north and a minor road to its south, and has the small town of Llanfair Caereinion towards the west north-west.

The hill appeared in the original 300m height band of Welsh P30 hills published on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website, under the transposed name of Ty-top, which is a prominent name that appears close to the summit of this hill on the contemporary Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer map.

Ty-top

370c

SJ135051

125/136

215

Four points of same height

 

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/old house and presume it that of the hill.  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 Explorer map

Since the original publication of the Welsh P30 lists on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website there have been a number of 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 were digitally updated such as the Ordnance Survey Vector Map Local that was hosted on the Geograph website and which was entitled the Interactive Coverage Map, whilst others are current and digitally updated such as the interactive mapping on the Magic Maps and WalkLakes websites.  One of the historic maps now available online is the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map, and it is this map that forms the basis for the change in the listed name of this hill. 

Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger 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 this map that places the name of Y Byrwydd across the summit area of this hill. 

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 Y Byrwydd, and this was derived from the Ordnance Survey One-Inch ‘Old Series’ map available via the website hosting The Welsh Tithe Maps. 

 

The full details for the hill are: 

Group:  Carnedd Wen 

Name:  Y Byrwydd 

Previously Listed Name:  Ty-top 

OS 1:50,000 map:  125, 136

Summit Height:  368m (spot height)                                                           

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 13703 05133 & SJ 13514 05065 (spot height) 

Bwlch Height:  c 343m (interpolation) 

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 14154 04674 (interpolation) 

Drop:  c 25m (spot height summit and interpolated bwlch) 

 

Myrddyn Phillips (November 2022)

 

 

 

Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Carnedd Wen

19.10.14  Y Byrwydd (SJ 145 045)  

Y Byrwydd (SJ 145 045)

Having visited Pen y Berth (SJ 0801 127) Mark and I headed down the B4382 and onto the A458 and turned out of Llanfair Caereinion on the B4389 before finding the narrow lane that took us to the base of Y Byrwydd.

I’d visited this hill once before in October 2011, I was then on a bagging trip taking in six separate walks over a number of P30’s.  Today Mark wanted to visit two Humps, the first of which was Pen y Berth and the second being Y Byrwydd.

We parked in a lay-by at SJ 138 046 where there is room for one car, this is near to the track that heads toward Ashton Farm.  As we walked down the narrow lane inspecting the hedgerow for signs of the public footpath which would give us access into the field and the hill’s summit, the sky above was a vivid grey highlighted with sunshine.

Mark found the gap in the hedge giving access to the field and bashed a few brambles out of our way as we clambered over a wooden fence and into the green and pleasant pasture with sheep and cows as company.  There were more brambles at the next fence crossing; beyond this was a gate and the spacious grassed summit.

One brambled hedge negotiated, one more to go, Mark on the ascent of  Y Byrwydd

As the Trimble gathered its five minutes of data I admired the view which was extensive.  Away to the east were the hills around Welshpool with the Breiddin distinctive in their shape, Cefn Digoll and Corndon on the horizon, with Upper Park and Y Golfa nearer in view, all Marilyns and all on grand display.  To our north the view was of a heavy greyness obscured by shower clouds, these were also present to the west and although sunshine cast out to our south the showers were massing there as well, it was time to get down and inspect the bwlch.

Gathering data at the summit of Y Byrwydd

The critical bwlch of Y Byrwydd is on the narrow lane as it heads eastward from the summit back toward Llanfair Caereinion, the map contours indicate that the bwlch would be relatively easy to place.  When we arrived by car I parked in a small passing place and wandered down the lane to pick the spot for Trimble placement.  Considering that each side of the lane had hedgerows the Trimble attained its 0.1m accuracy before data can be logged remarkably quickly.  I pressed ‘Log’ and walked back a safe distance hoping that there wouldn’t be any passing vehicles in the next five minutes as the equipment was placed on the grass verge immediately beside the narrow road.

Bit risky placing Trimbles next to roads, you never know what might happen!

The opposite view looking west up the lane with the Trimble gathering data

As the Trimble was gathering data I tried to peer through the thick and high hedge to the south of the narrow lane to see the lay of land in the adjacent field.  Mark was doing the same but he had positioned himself sitting on the side of the roof of the car, the hedge proved thick enough that neither of us could get a good view into the field.  The adjacent field to the north of the lane headed up toward the road indicating that either the lane or the field to its immediate south was where the critical bwlch was placed.

Dedicated to the course, Mark sitting on the roof of the car trying to see into the adjacent field

Once five minutes of data were collected I drove further east and found a gate giving access into the southerly placed field, we wandered around for five minutes assessing the lay of the land as it headed up toward the hedge and the lane on the opposite side, indicating that the critical bwlch for Y Byrwydd is placed on or beside the narrow lane.

Happy in the knowledge that the hill and its bwlch had been surveyed we headed back to Welshpool for soup, toast and scotch pancakes – yummy!

Survey Result:

Y Byrwydd

Summit Height:  372.7m (converted to OSGM15) 

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 14570 04563

Bwlch Height:  269.5m (converted to OSGM15)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SJ 11597 05010

Drop:  103.2m

Dominance:  27.68%

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet