Craig y Forwyn (Denbighshire)

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Craig y Forwyn Limestone escarpment - World's End - geograph.org.uk - 27578.jpg
Craig y Forwyn

Craig y Forwyn ("Maiden's Crag") is a crag that encloses the northern side of World's End, near the town of Llangollen in Denbighshire, Wales. [1] It is part of the limestone escarpment that separates the Eglwyseg Valley from the higher Ruabon Moors and, along with nearby Craig Arthur, is a popular site for rock climbing. Evidence of lead and silver mining is found just to the west. [2] The Offa's Dyke Path runs along its foot.

The crag is mentioned in George Borrow's Wild Wales . Borrow, while walking from Llangollen to Wrexham, notices "an enormous crag of a strange form rising to the very heavens". When a local tells him that it is called Craig y Forwyn, he asks about the origin of the name, receiving the response, "I do not know sir; some people say that it is called so because its head is like that of a woman, others because a young girl in love leaped from the top of it and was killed." [3]

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References

  1. Black's Guide to North Wales (21st ed.). London: Adam and Charles Black. 1897. p. 144. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  2. "Eglwyseg". Clwyd Metal Mines Survey. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  3. Borrow, George (1862). Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery. London: Collins. pp. 311–312. Retrieved 31 May 2022.

Coordinates: 53°01′20″N3°08′38″W / 53.0223°N 3.1439°W / 53.0223; -3.1439