Cefn Manmoel

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Cefn Manmoel is the name given to the broad ridge of high ground between the Sirhowy Valley and Ebbw Vale in the Valleys region of South Wales. It straddles the boundary between the unitary areas of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent.

The Sirhowy Valley is an industrialised valley in the eastern part of the Valleys region of Wales. It is named from the Sirhowy River which runs through it. Its upper reaches are occupied by the town of Tredegar within the unitary area of Blaenau Gwent. The valley initially heads south-southeast between the ridges of Cefn Manmoel to the east and Mynydd Bedwellte to the west before turning to a more southerly direction. Its central section is one of the least populated of the Welsh coalfield valleys. The valley enters the unitary area of Caerphilly which contains the towns of Blackwood and Pontllanfraith. It then turns east and joins the valley of the Ebbw River, Ebbw Vale at Crosskeys.

Ebbw Vale town in Blaenau Gwent Wales

Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a population of roughly 33,000. It has direct access to the dualled A465 Heads of the Valleys trunk road and borders the Brecon Beacons National Park.

South Wales Valleys Group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales

The South Wales Valleys are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run north–south, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys", they stretch from eastern Carmarthenshire to western Monmouthshire; to the edge of the pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain near the cities of Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport.

Contents

The NNW-SSE aligned ridge achieves a height of 504 metres (1,654 ft) above sea-level at OS grid ref SO 166072. To the south it drops away to a broad saddle southeast of the village of Manmoel, beyond which lies Mynydd Pen-y-fan.

Parts of both its eastern and western flanks are afforested with conifer plantations such as at Coed y Rhyd and at Coed y Llanerch.

Geology

The entire hill is composed of sandstones and mudstones dating from the Carboniferous Period. There are also numerous coal seams within the sequence, most of which have been worked. The upper part of the hill including the summit plateau is formed from the Pennant Sandstone, a rock assigned to the Carboniferous Upper Coal Measures. [1] The flanks of the hill owe their steepness in part to the action of glacial ice during the succession of ice ages.

Pennant Measures traditional name for a sequence of sedimentary rocks of the South Wales Coalfield

The Pennant Measures is the traditional name for a sequence of sedimentary rocks of the South Wales Coalfield. They were also referred to as the Upper Coal Measures and assigned to the Westphalian 'C' and Westphalian 'D' stages of the Carboniferous Period. The Pennant Measures were divided into the Lower Pennant Measures and the Upper Pennant Measures, differing from the underlying Middle and Lower Coal Measures in being principally of sandstone units – known collectively as the Pennant Sandstone – with mudstone being the subsidiary rock type. Numerous coal seams occur within the Pennant Measures though they are less common than in the underlying Coal Measures.

Glacier Persistent body of ice that is moving under its own weight

A glacier is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and moraines. Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

Quaternary glaciation

The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma, and is ongoing. Although geologists describe the entire time period as an "ice age", in popular culture the term "ice age" is usually associated with just the most recent glacial period. Since earth still has ice sheets, geologists consider the Quaternary glaciation to be ongoing, with earth now experiencing an interglacial period.

There are numerous abandoned quarries on the steep flanks of the ridge.

Access

Significant parts of the hill are moorland and have been mapped as open country under the CRoW Act thus giving a right of access to walkers. Similar rights apply to some of the afforested areas. There are a number of public footpaths and other public rights of way over the hill. The Sirhowy Valley Ridgeway Walk and the Ebbw Valley Walk follow some of these routes. [2]

"Open Country" is a designation used for some UK access land.

Rights of way in England and Wales

In England and Wales, other than in the 12 Inner London Boroughs and the City of London, the "right of way" refers to paths on which the public have a legally protected right to pass and re-pass. The law in England and Wales differs from Scots law in that rights of way exist only where they are so designated, whereas in Scotland any route that meets certain conditions is defined as a right of way, and in addition there is a general presumption of access to the countryside. Private rights of way or easements also exist.

The Sirhowy Valley Ridgeway Walk is a 26 miles (42 km)-long recreational walk which runs from the southwestern outskirts of Newport north to the eastern edge of Tredegar in South Wales. The route is managed and maintained by Caerphilly County Borough Council, which publishes a free A3 leaflet describing it.

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References

  1. ↑ British Geological Survey 1:50,000 scale map series sheet 232 Abergavenny
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map series sheet 166 Rhondda & Merthyr Tydfil/Merthyr Tudful

Coordinates: 51°45′08″N3°12′34″W / 51.7521°N 3.2094°W / 51.7521; -3.2094

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.

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