Monday 11 July 2016

Mapping Mountains – Significant Name Changes – 200m Twmpau


Y Frochas (SJ 194 083)

There has been a Significant Name Change to a hill that is listed in the 200m Twmpauwith the following details relating to a hill that was surveyed with the Trimble GeoXH 6000 on the 20th August 2014.

The criteria for the list that this name change affects are:

200m Twmpau The word Twmpau is an acronym standing for thirty welsh metre prominences and upward, and the criteria for the 200m height band of hills within the overall Twmpau are; all Welsh hills at and above 200m and below 300m in height that have 30m minimum drop,  with an accompanying sub category entitled the 200m Sub-Twmapu with these being all Welsh hills at and above 200m and below 300m in height that have 20m and more and below 30m of drop. 

The hill is part of the Carnedd Wen range, which is an extensive group of hills situated in the southern part of north Wales, and it is positioned to the west and south-west of the towns of Y Trallwng (Welshpool) and Cegidfa (Guilsfield) respectively.

The Trimble GeoXH 6000 gathering data at the summit of Frochas Hill

The hill appeared in the Sub List that accompanied the 200m P30 list on Geoff Crowder’s v-g.me website and its status as a 200m Sub-Twmpau was confirmed by the survey with the Trimble GeoXH 6000.  T
he hill appeared in this Sub List under an invented name; Bryn y Frochas, with an accompanying note stating; Name from surrounding district.  This invented name was based on the name of Y Frochas which appeared nearest to this hill’s summit on Ordnance Survey maps of the day.  During my early hill listing I thought it appropriate to invent a name for a hill if no name seemed to appear for it on Ordnance Survey maps.  My preference was to use the nearest name to the summit on the map and put Pen, Bryn or Moel in front of it.  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.


Bryn y Frochas
    250c
    SJ195083
    125
  216/239
    Name from surrounding district


The name this hill is now listed by is Frochas Hill and this was derived from local enquiry, with the area surrounding the hill known as Y Frochas and the land taking in the summit of the hill also known as the Common or Frochas Common.  These details were given me by Gwyneth Owen who lives next to Frochas Farm.  This farm is still in Gwyneth's family and she lived there for 30 years and in the bungalow next to it for the last 20 years.  

Gwyneth Owen of Pen y Dyffryn

The notice on the fence leading onto the land where the summit of the hill is situated names the land as Y Frochas Common and subsequent meetings with locals substantiated the use of the term; the Common for this land.

The term Y Frochas is confirmed by a Commons Registration Act document dating from 1965 forwarded to me by Aled Williams, as well as information 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.

The Countryside Council for Wales notice on the fence leading to Frochas Hill

Accessing information on the Tithe map is simplified by the use of a split screen enabling the summit to be pinpointed on the map on the right and for the same point to appear on the Tithe map on the left

The enclosed land is given a number which 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.  However, in this instance the land where the summit of this hill is situated is on common land and named as Frocas Common; it appears in the county named as Montgomery and in the parish of Castell Caereinion.  The name of this land is also given as Frochas Common, with the inclusion of the ‘h’ on the Tithe map to the Llanerchydol Township, in the lower division of the Parish of Pool.

Therefore the name this hill is now listed by in the 200m Twmpau is Frochas Hill and this was derived from local enquiry.


The full details for the hill are:

Group:  Carnedd Wen

Name:  Frochas Hill

Previously Listed Name:  Bryn y Frochas  

Summit Height:  250.7m (converted to OSGM15)

OS 1:50,000 map:  125

Summit Grid Reference:  SJ 19469 08313
  
Drop:  27.3m




Myrddyn Phillips (July 2016)






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