Chartist Cave (or sometimes Chartist's or Chartists' Cave) is a culturally significant cave on

Mynydd Llangynidr Mynydd Llangynidr is a mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park largely in the county of Powys, south Wales. Its southern slopes extend into the northernmost parts of the county borough of Blaenau Gwent. It is named from the village of Llang ...

in southern

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

, Wales. The entrance is a broad arch formed of

Twrch Sandstone The Marros Group is the name given to a suite of rocks of Namurian age laid down during the Carboniferous period (geology), Period in South Wales. These rocks were formerly known as the Millstone Grit, Millstone Grit Series but are now distinguish ...

('Millstone Grit') which overlies the Carboniferous Limestone immediately beneath.

The cave

The cave is located at about north-northeast of the village of

Trefil Trefil is a small village in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, south Wales. It lies at the top of the Sirhowy Valley, near to Brecon Beacons National Park. It is three miles northwest of Tredegar. With one public house, The Top House, serving ...

at an elevation of about , at OS grid reference SO 127152 (51.8286 degrees North, 3.2672 degrees West). The entrance to Chartist Cave is high on the moors near the summit of

. The arched entrance is formed by a

('Millstone Grit') cap from beneath which the underlying

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

has been eroded. The cave is also known by two different names in Welsh: Ogof Fawr (the 'Big Cave') and earlier as Tylles Fawr (the 'Great Hole'). The more commonly used modern name derives from 1839 when Chartist rebels used the cave to stockpile weapons in advance of their march on Newport in November of that year. There is a plaque at the entrance commemorating the Chartists' actions. Digging by the Severn Valley Caving Club, in 1969 and 1970, led to the discovery of a passage dropping to a lower chamber with many passages leading off. The known length of the cave is but it is believed to form a part of a much more extensive cave system beneath the moors. In the cave were found a clay pipe, a flat perforated stone, and both animal and human bones. The stone may have been of considerable antiquity, but the human bones were thought to be between fifty and one hundred years old. The cave is included in the Mynydd Llangynidr

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

designated in August 2012 by the

Countryside Council for Wales The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW; ) was a Welsh Assembly sponsored body responsible for wildlife conservation, landscape and countryside access in Wales. It merged with Forestry Commission Wales, and Environment Agency Wales to form ...

on the basis of the

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ic landscape found here.

References

External links

guide to the cave

images of the cave on Geograph website
{{coord, 51.83123, N, 3.27119, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Caves of Powys Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Brecknock