Fforest Fawr
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fforest Fawr (, ) is an extensive upland area in the county of
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 Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. Formerly known as the Great Forest of Brecknock in English, it was a royal hunting area for several centuries but is now used primarily for sheep grazing, forestry, water catchment and recreation. It lies within the
Brecon Beacons National Park Brecon Beacons National Park, officially named Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (), is a National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Wales. It is named after the Brecon Beacons (), the mountain range at its centre. The national park ...
.


Extent

The area extends from the edge of the Black Mountain in the west eastwards to the
A470 The A470 (also named the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road) is a trunk road in Wales. It is the country's longest road at and links the capital Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. While previously one had to navigate th ...
Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...
to
Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...
road, just west of the
Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...
themselves. It includes the peaks of Fan Fawr (734 m), Fan Frynych (629 m), Craig Cerrig-gleisiad (629 m), Fan Llia (632 m), Fan Nedd (663 m), Fan Gyhirych (725 m), Fan Bwlch Chwyth (603 m) and Cefn Cul (562 m). Traditionally Fforest Fawr also included the peaks of
Fan Hir Fan Hir is a peak at the eastern end of the Black Mountain (range), Black Mountain (''Y Mynydd Du'') in the Brecon Beacons National Park (''Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog'') in southern Wales. It is a subsidiary summit of Fan Brycheiniog. ...
and
Fan Brycheiniog Fan Brycheiniog is the highest peak at a height of (above sea level) in the Black Mountain (range), Black Mountain (''Y Mynydd Du'') region of the Brecon Beacons National Park in southern Wales. There is a trig point at the peak and on ...
, although the modern recreational use of the name tends to be restricted to the area east of the Black Mountain of which they form a part.


Geology

The area is largely underlain by sandstones and mudstones of the
Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...
, of which the more resistant sandstone beds, the Brownstones Formation give rise to the major peaks. To the south of the main peaks are two more broken north-facing scarps, that of the Carboniferous Limestone and, to its south, that of the Twrch Sandstone, formerly known as (and still commonly referred to as) the Basal Grit of the
Millstone Grit Millstone Grit is any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the British Isles. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills. Geologists refer to ...
. These three suites of rock all dip southwards into the regionally important
South Wales Coalfield The South Wales Coalfield () extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, especially in the South Wales ...
basin. The area is criss-crossed by faults which fall into two groups. Two major faults which are closely associated with tight folding of the rocks through which they pass, constitute one group. These are known as the Cribarth and Neath Disturbances. They run north-east to south-west through the area and are usually associated with the
Variscan orogeny The Variscan orogeny, or Hercynian orogeny, was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Varis ...
though the origins of these weaknesses in the Earth's crust can perhaps be ascribed to the earlier
Caledonian Orogeny The Caledonian orogeny was a mountain-building cycle recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Caledonides, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events tha ...
. The second set of faults form something of a swarm which run north-northwest to south-southeast and are most apparent within the limestone and Millstone Grit outcrop. The area was glaciated during the ice ages and at least three glacial cirques are evident, of which Craig Cerrig-gleisiad is the most dramatic. At both this location and on the eastern slopes of Fan Dringarth are spectacular
landslip Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslide ...
s.


Archaeology

There are many extant prehistoric monuments in the area, and especially two famous
standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...
s, Maen Llia and Maen Madoc, both of which stand near to the
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
of Sarn Helen. There are also remains of hut circles,
stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...
s, stone rows and other traces of habitation such as hut platforms and pillow mounds. The mounds are the large remains of former attempts to farm rabbits on the
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
. There are also
round barrow A round barrow is a type of tumulus and is one of the most common types of archaeological monuments. Although concentrated in Europe, they are found in many parts of the world, probably because of their simple construction and universal purpose. ...
s visible usually as
cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
s sometimes on the peak summits, such as that on Fan Gyhirych but also elsewhere on what is now wild
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
. They are mainly of British Bronze Age date of 2000 BC and sometimes earlier, although few have been excavated scientifically. The cairn on Fan Foel excavated in 2002-4 showed a central
cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...
with the ashes and bones of a woman and two children of date about 2000 BC with a possible wreath of meadowsweet flowers.


History

Although it is an area of open moorland today, it was much more wooded in the past; but that is not the meaning of "Fforest" in the name. In the Middle Ages, "forest" referred to land demarcated for hunting, with the right to hunt animals there restricted to the local lord (cf Radnor Forest and
New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...
). Bernard de Neufmarche, Norman lord of Brecon, established the forest around 1100. In the 13th century, another part of the highland was added, to the SW of Sennybridge; the two were distinguished by the names ''Fforest Fach'' (Little Forest) and ''Fforest Fawr'' (Great Forest). Following the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
the area was owned by the Lord of Brecon, Bernard de Neufmarche, eventually passing into the possession of
the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
in 1521. It was sold by the Crown in 1819 to raise funds depleted by the cost of the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
. The entrepreneur John Christie purchased some of this land and subsequently constructed a tramroad across the area from Sennybridge to Ystradgynlais in an effort to improve agricultural production though the venture ran into financial difficulties. Parts of the area, notably on the flanks of Cefn Cul above Cray Reservoir, were set aside during the 19th century for rabbit breeding for both fur and meat. 'Pillow mounds' remain as the most obvious sign of this venture. These long low earth mounds were constructed to allow the animals to burrow in what were otherwise thin soils. Since October 2005 it has formed the core of the Fforest Fawr Geopark, the first
Geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...
in Wales and one of several areas in the UK designated for their outstanding geological heritage.


Modern land use

The waters of the southerly-flowing Afon Dringarth have been impounded between Fan Fawr and Fan Llia as Ystradfellte Reservoir. The headwaters of the northerly-flowing Afon Crai are stored in Cray Reservoir immediately west of the A4067 Ystradgynlais to Sennybridge road. There are numerous conifer plantations on both the northern and southern slopes of Fforest Fawr. Fan Frynych and Craig Cerrig-gleisiad are protected as a national nature reserve which is owned and managed by
Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Countryside Council for Wales, E ...
for its Arctic–alpine flora. Almost the entire area is open access for walkers. Two major long-distance paths, the
Beacons Way The Beacons Way (Welsh: Ffordd y Bannau) is a waymarked long distance footpath in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. It is a linear route which runs for east to west through the National Park, and passes many of the most important landmar ...
and the Cambrian Way, run east–west through Fforest Fawr.


References


External links

{{coord, 51, 51, N, 3, 35, W, display=title, region:GB_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki Mountain ranges of the Brecon Beacons National Park Landforms of Powys Mountain ranges of Wales