Fan Hir

Fan Hir
Fan Hir
	Fan Hir summit ridge
Highest point
Elevation	760 m (2,490 ft)
Prominence	43 m (141 ft)
Parent peak	Fan Brycheiniog
Listing	Hewitt, Nuttall
Coordinates	51°52′25″N3°41′59″W / 51.8736°N 3.6996°W
Naming
English translation	long beacon
Language of name	Welsh
Geography
Location	Powys, Wales
Parent range	Brecon Beacons
OS grid	SN825217

Last updated July 14, 2023

Fan Hir is a peak at the eastern end of the 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. It falls within the county of Powys and is also a part of the traditional area of Fforest Fawr. Its Welsh name means "long peak", a fitting description, particularly if seen from the east when its steep eastern face is seen to advantage. It is about 2.5 miles or 4 km long and faces east. Its summit is 2490 feet (about 760m) above sea level. Fan Hir is separated from its higher neighbour to the north-west, Fan Brycheiniog (2633 feet or 802 metres) by a col known as Bwlch Giedd, where a path rises from Llyn y Fan Fawr via a stone staircase.^[1]

Geology

The peak is formed from sandstones of the Brownstones Formation and the overlying Plateau Beds Formation of the Old Red Sandstone laid down during the Devonian period. In accord with a regional trend, the beds dips southwards into the South Wales Coalfield basin. A notable feature of the hill is the prominent ridge of Fan Fechan (the 'little peak') which parallels the main ridge below it to the east. It is largely composed of broken Old Red Sandstone and has been interpreted as either a glacial moraine or as a pro-talus rampart. The peak is within the Fforest Fawr Geopark designated in 2005 in recognition of the area's geological heritage.^[3]

Archaeology

The escarpment overlooks a famous Welsh stone circle, Cerrig Duon (or black stones) which are likely of British Bronze Age date, although it has never been excavated scientifically. There is a large standing stone, Maen Mawr, and a small stone avenue close by which are associated with the circle. The standing stone is about 5 feet high, and can be seen from a distance when driving down the Trecastle to Abercraf road. The monuments are close to the road further on, but cannot be seen directly from there, so the visitor must cross the River Tawe and climb the bank to view the site. There is another standing stone further north and east, and not far from the same minor road. There are many other ancient remains extant on the moor, such as hut circles and house platform as well as traces of cultivation such as lynchets. The climate was much warmer then and the area well wooded showing that timber was available locally for structural use.

Access

The entire hill is open country and thus available for walkers to roam at will, although there is much peat bog off route, which can be difficult to cross. The path along the ridge is popular and forms a part of a circuit. The views from the edge of the escarpment are spectacular with Pen y Fan and Corn Du visible on the skyline to the east, and Fan Gyhirych closer in Fforest Fawr. The Beacons Way long distance footpath runs beneath Fan Hir on the east affording close-up views of this impressive hill. The path leads to the glacial lake of Llyn y Fan Fawr and then climbs up the escarpment via a stone staircase of even gradient to the bwlch below Fan Brycheiniog. The stone path is well drained and dry, and there is little exposure to steep drops.

Related Research Articles

The Brecon Beacons, or Bannau Brycheiniog is a mountainous region, national park and mountain range in Wales.

Pen y Fan is the highest peak in South Wales, situated in Brecon Beacons National Park. At 886 metres (2,907 ft) above sea-level, it is also the highest British peak south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia. It is the highest point of the historic county of Brecknockshire. The twin summits of Pen y Fan and Corn Du at 873 metres (2,864 ft) were formerly referred to as Cadair Arthur or 'Arthur's Seat'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Brycheiniog</span> Hill (801.7m) in Powys, Wales

Fan Brycheiniog is the highest peak at a height of 802.5 metres (2,633 ft) in the Black Mountain region of the Brecon Beacons National Park in southern Wales. There is a trig point at the peak and on the edge of the escarpment, and nearby, a stone shelter with an inner seat. It lies just inside the historic county of Brecknockshire which gives the mountain its Welsh name. A subsidiary top, less than a kilometre from the summit along the ridge to the northwest, is the highest point of the neighboring county of Carmarthenshire. Fan Brycheiniog is also within the Fforest Fawr Geopark designated in 2005 in recognition of the area's geological heritage. The views of the moorland and open country to the north are spectacular when the weather is clear, and reveals the isolation of the range, especially when compared with the more popular Pen y Fan range to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Mountain (range)</span> Mountain range, west of Brecon Beacons, Wales

The Black Mountain is a mountain range in South, Mid and West Wales, straddling the county boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys and forming the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Its highest point is Fan Brycheiniog at 802 metres or 2,631 ft. The Black Mountain also forms a part of the Fforest Fawr Geopark.

Corn Du is a summit of the twin topped Pen y Fan and the second highest peak in South Wales at 871.5 m (2,864 ft), situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The summit itself is marked by a well structured Bronze Age cairn with a central burial cist like that on nearby Pen y Fan. The two summits are visible from great distances owing to their height above the surrounding moorland, and are famous landmarks. The views from the peaks are also panoramic and very extensive, the Black Mountain and Fforest Fawr being especially obvious to the west. Mynydd Epynt is visible to the north behind the county town of Brecon, and other parts of the escarpment to the east.

The Beacons Way is a waymarked long distance footpath in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. It is a linear route which runs for 99 miles (159 km) east to west through the National Park, and passes many of the most important landmarks and mountain peaks in the mountain range. It also includes a few of the towns in the park as well as popular attractions such as Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo at the western end of the path.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Fawr</span>

Fan Fawr is a mountain in the Fforest Fawr section of the Brecon Beacons National Park, in Powys, Wales and over 734 m (2,408 ft) high.

Fforest Fawr is an extensive upland area in the county of Powys, Wales. 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.

The Afon Llia is a short river in Powys, Wales, and which is wholly contained within the Brecon Beacons National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Nedd</span>

Fan Nedd is a mountain in the Fforest Fawr area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales. In common with the rest of the Fforest Fawr uplands it is within the county of Powys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Llia</span>

Fan Llia is a subsidiary summit of Fan Fawr in the Fforest Fawr section of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. In common with other peaks in the Fforest Fawr uplands it lies within the county of Powys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Gyhirych</span>

Fan Gyhirych is a mountain in the Fforest Fawr section of Brecon Beacons National Park in south Wales. It lies within the county of Breconshire, and administered as part of the unitary authority of Powys.

Llyn y Fan Fawr is a natural lake in the county of Powys, Wales. It lies at the foot of Fan Brycheiniog, the highest peak of the Black Mountain range within the Brecon Beacons National Park. Created as a result of glacial action, it is one of the largest glacial lakes in southern Wales. The lake is roughly rectangular in shape with its long axis oriented roughly north–south.

Llyn Cwm Llwch is a small lake or pool in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys, Wales. It is between 1 and 2 acres: much smaller than the two glacial lakes in the west of the Black Mountain (range): Llyn y Fan Fawr and Llyn y Fan Fach, and one of the few natural bodies of water in the park. It is of glacial origin, occupying a rock hollow beneath the peaks of Pen y Fan and Corn Du in the central Brecon Beacons. It is drained by the Nant Cwm Llwch which empties into the Afon Tarell, which itself enters the River Usk at Brecon. Tommy Jones' obelisk, a memorial in granite to a young boy who died near this spot in 1900, overlooks the lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waun Lefrith</span> Hill (676.1m) in Carmarthenshire, Wales

Waun Lefrith is a top of Picws Du and is also the westernmost of the Carmarthen Fans, a group of peaks within the Black Mountain of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It lies within Carmarthenshire, Wales. The summit plateau of the mountain reaches a height of 2221 feet above sea level. Picws Du and Fan Foel are the other, higher summits of the Carmarthen Fans. The glacial lake of Llyn y Fan Fach dominates the panorama to the north of the peak. Beyond the lake to the north lies the Usk Reservoir and then the Cambrian Mountains on the horizon. Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel are visible to the south across the undulating dip slope of the mountain. The Towy (Tywi) valley lies to the west, with Llandovery and Llandeilo as important market towns nearest to the hills.

Picws Du is the second highest peak of the Carmarthen Fans in the Carmarthenshire section of the Black Mountain in the west of the Brecon Beacons National Park in south Wales. The highest peak is Fan Foel immediately next along the ridge and it is a subsidiary summit of Fan Brycheiniog. Picws Du falls within Fforest Fawr Geopark and its prominent summit is marked by a large Bronze Age round barrow at a height of 2457 feet above sea level. Waun Lefrith is the other, lower summit of the Bannau Sir Gâr / Carmarthen Fans situated to the west. The peak overlooks the glacial lake of Llyn y Fan Fach in the cwm below. As the peak sits on the edge of the escarpment on a ridge which juts out into the valley below, the views from the summit are panoramic and extensive. The views to the north are especially impressive when the weather is clear, looking towards the Cambrian Mountains, Mynydd Epynt and Brecon. Swansea and the Bristol Channel can just be seen on the horizon to the south, across the gently falling dip slope. Pen y Fan and Corn Du are distinctive landmarks seen directly to the east across Fforest Fawr.

Cefn Cul is a hill in the Fforest Fawr sector of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys, southern Wales. It is a broad north-northeast to south-southwest aligned ridge whose summit reaches a height of 562 m above sea level. The hill is bounded to the west by the upper valley of the River Tawe though which the old Trecastle road runs whilst to the east is the pass of Bwlch Bryn-rhudd over which the A4067 road runs from the Crai valley south to that of the Tawe.

Tawe-Uchaf is a community in Powys, Wales. Situated north-east of Ystradgynlais in the upper valley of the River Tawe, it includes the villages of Caehopkin, Coelbren, Glyntawe, Pen-y-cae, Penwyllt and Ynyswen. It had a population in 2001 of 1,516, increasing at the 2011 Census to 1,562.

The bedrock geology of Carmarthenshire in west Wales consists largely of Palaeozoic age sedimentary rocks. Unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary age in Carmarthenshire include a dissected cover of glacial till, valley floor alluvium and some scattered peat deposits in both upland and lowland settings. There are extensive beach and tidal flat deposits along the Carmarthenshire coast. The exploitation of the county's mineral riches, particularly coal and limestone, was a key part of the local economy through much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

References

↑ Nuttall, John & Anne (1999). The Mountains of England & Wales - Volume 1: Wales (2nd edition ed.). Milnthorpe, Cumbria: Cicerone. ISBN 1-85284-304-7.
↑ Ordnance Survey Explorer map OL12 'Brecon Beacons National Park: western area'
↑ British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 213 'Merthyr Tydfil' & accompanying memoir

External links

images of Fan Hir and area on Geograph website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Nuttall, John & Anne (1999). The Mountains of England & Wales - Volume 1: Wales (2nd edition ed.). Milnthorpe, Cumbria: Cicerone. ISBN 1-85284-304-7.

[2] Ordnance Survey Explorer map OL12 'Brecon Beacons National Park: western area'

[3] British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 213 'Merthyr Tydfil' & accompanying memoir

[1]

[2]

[3]