Beacon Hill, Monmouthshire

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Beacon Hill picnic area

Beacon Hill is the highest hill in eastern Monmouthshire, South Wales. It is located 0.6 miles (0.97 km) due east of the village of Trellech, and 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Llandogo. Its crowning point at 306m / 1006 ft above sea level is marked by an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar. The summit, eastern slopes and uppermost western slopes are owned by Natural Resources Wales which manages the area not only for timber production but for recreation also. [1]

Monmouthshire County

Monmouthshire is a county in south-east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire of which it covers the eastern 60%. The largest town is Abergavenny. Other towns and large villages are Caldicot, Chepstow, Monmouth, Magor and Usk. It borders Torfaen and Newport to the west; Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the east; and Powys to the north.

Wales Country in northwest Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Trellech village in Trellech United, Monmouthshire, Wales

Trellech is a village and parish in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales. It is in the community of Trellech United and located 5 miles (8 km) south of Monmouth and 4 miles (6.4 km) north-north-west of Tintern on a plateau above the Wye and Usk Valleys in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are three Bronze Age standing stones in the village, known as Harold's Stones. The church of St Nicholas is a Grade I listed building.

Contents

Geology

The summit of the hill is formed from the Quartz Conglomerate Group which is assigned by geologists to the Upper Old Red Sandstone - a sequence of sedimentary rocks laid down during the late Devonian period. This pebbly sandstone occurs in an outcrop through eastern Monmouthshire and neighbouring Gloucestershire and caps other hills of local significance. [2]

Old Red Sandstone assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region

The Old Red Sandstone 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 northeastern seaboard of North America. It also extends northwards into Greenland and Svalbard. In Britain it is a lithostratigraphic unit to which stratigraphers accord supergroup status and which is of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, ORS is often used in literature on the subject. The term was coined to distinguish the sequence from the younger New Red Sandstone which also occurs widely throughout Britain.

Sedimentary rock Rock formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of material

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth's surface. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock are called sediment, and may be composed of geological detritus (minerals) or biological detritus. Before being deposited, the geological detritus was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, and then transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Biological detritus was formed by bodies and parts of dead aquatic organisms, as well as their fecal mass, suspended in water and slowly piling up on the floor of water bodies. Sedimentation may also occur as dissolved minerals precipitate from water solution.

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

Access

All freehold land owned by the former Forestry Commission Wales (now succeeded by Natural Resources Wales) was dedicated as access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and is thus freely available to those on foot. Numerous forest tracks cross the hill's slopes. A car park has been provided on the western side and information panels installed at the site to assist visitors to interpret the extensive views from breaks in the woodland cover.

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 UK Act of Parliament concerning freedom to roam

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, known as the CRoW Act is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000.

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References

  1. Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map sheet OL14 Wye Valley & Forest of Dean
  2. British Geological Survey 1:50,000 geological map sheet 233 Monmouth

Coordinates: 51°44′42″N2°42′29″W / 51.745°N 2.708°W / 51.745; -2.708

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.