Cnicht is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

which forms part of the

Moelwynion The Moelwynion (a Welsh language, Welsh plural, sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised to Moelwyns) are a group of mountains in central Snowdonia. They extend from the north-east of Porthmadog to Moel Siabod, the highest of the group. The name deriv ...

mountain range.

Features

Its appearance when viewed from the south-west, i.e. from the direction of

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

, has earned it the sobriquet the " Matterhorn of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

", albeit being 3,789 metres lower. In reality Cnicht is a long ridge and, at 689 m, is the fifth-highest peak in the

mountain range. It can be easily ascended from

Croesor Croesor is a small village in Gwynedd, Wales, located at the foot of Cnicht, in Cwm Croesor, in the community of Llanfrothen. The Croesor Tramway travelled along the bed of the cwm, before rising steeply to Bwlch Rhosydd via Croesor Incline. To ...

, the village at its foot, or, with more difficulty, from Nant Gwynant to the north-west. Although regarded by some as a mountain in its own right, Cnicht does not have the required 150m of topographic prominence to be classed as a Marilyn.

Toponymy

The mountain's name is thought to derive from the English surname

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, the name of a family who were formerly merchants in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

. When borrowed into

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, the consonants represented by and were still pronounced in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and these are retained in the Welsh name ''Cnicht'' as (/k/) and (/χ/).

In fiction

It appears as the "Saeth" in Patrick O'Brian's 1952 novel ''Three Bear Witness'' (published as ''Testimonies'' in the USA), which is set in a fictionalised version of Cwm Croesor. O'Brian and his wife lived in the valley between 1946 and 1949.

References

External links

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Cnicht and surrounding area
Mountains and hills of Snowdonia Hewitts of Wales Nuttalls Mountains and hills of Gwynedd Beddgelert Llanfrothen {{Gwynedd-geo-stub