Moel Penderyn is a hill on the edge of Penderyn village, in 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 ...

in the county borough of

Rhondda Cynon Taff Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff () and Ely valleys, plus several towns and villages away from ...

, south

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 ...

. It also appeared on older maps as 'Y Foel Penderyn'. Its summit at 371m is marked by a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The station is usually set up by a map ...

. Moel Penderyn is in the '' Dyffrynnoedd Nedd a Mellte, a Moel Penderyn'' biological and geological

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 ...

Geology

The hill is formed from both Carboniferous Limestone rocks and the overlying

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 ...

(former 'Basal Grit') of the

Marros Group The Marros Group is the name given to a suite of rocks of Namurian age laid down during the Carboniferous Period in South Wales. These rocks were formerly known as the Millstone Grit Series but are now distinguished from the similar but geograp ...

(former ' Millstone Grit Series'), also of

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

age. It lies along the east-northeast to south-southwest aligned

Neath Disturbance The Neath Disturbance is a geological structure which stretches across south Wales from Swansea Bay northeastwards as far as Hereford in western England. It consists of a series of both faults and associated folds which were active during the mo ...

, a geological structure associated with the

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 ...

which locally comprises both a major fault and two tight anticlinal folds.British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 231 'Merthyr Tydfil' & accompanying memoir

Industrial remains

The remains of tramways skirt the eastern flanks of the hill and a former tramway incline can still be seen to rise up towards a quarry which once worked deposits in the centre of the hill. Disused quarries working both limestone and gritstone adorn its eastern and northern sides.

Access

The hill is open country and therefore available for walkers to wander at will. Additional access is provided by a public bridleway along its southern flanks and a public footpath between Penderyn village and the waterfall of Sgwd yr Eira on its northeastern edge.

References

External links

images of Moel Penderyn and surrounding area on Geograph website
{{coord, 51.7672, -3.5395, type:mountain_region:GB, display=title Fforest Fawr Mountains and hills of Rhondda Cynon Taf