Mynydd y Drum

Last updated

Mynydd y Drum
Track through grazing land near Coelbren - geograph.org.uk - 2586914.jpg
Mynydd y Drum, viewed from the east
Highest point
Elevation 298 m (978 ft)
Prominence 93.4 m (306 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Coordinates 51°46′26″N3°43′48″W / 51.774°N 3.730°W / 51.774; -3.730 Coordinates: 51°46′26″N3°43′48″W / 51.774°N 3.730°W / 51.774; -3.730
Geography
Location Neath Port Talbot, Wales
OS grid SN807098

Mynydd y Drum is a hill on the border between the county of Powys and Neath Port Talbot County Borough, south Wales. The summit of the hill is in Neath Port Talbot (formerly the county of Glamorgan) at 298m [1] and lies towards the western end of a broad curving ridge, the larger part of which is in Powys (former county of Brecknockshire). The eastern half of the hill is currently being opencasted for coal. [2] The hill is sometimes referred to simply as The Drum (a Welsh word, so pronounced 'drim').

Contents

Geology

The hill is formed from sandstones and mudstones of the South Wales Coal Measures which also contain numerous coal seams currently being worked within the large Nant Helen Opencast Coal Mine. [3]

Archaeology and industrial archaeology

Several cairns of unknown age are found around the summit plateau [4] though that formerly known as Garn Goch has been obliterated by the opencasting. [5] The remains of numerous nineteenth century tramroads are scattered around the flanks of the hill, notably that of Claypon's Tramroad extension, one of the later parts of the Brecon Forest Tramroad linking Onllwyn with Ystalyfera in the Swansea Valley. [6]

Access

Other than the area being opencasted, much of the hill is designated as open country and therefore available for walkers to wander over at will. Various public footpaths and bridleways provide access over its lower slopes from the communities in the upper Swansea Valley such as Abercraf and Ystradgynlais and from Seven Sisters/Blaendulais at the head of the Dulais valley to the southeast.

Folklore

There is a legend that three cauldrons of gold are buried on the hill's summit, guarded by demons. There is a prophecy that the treasure will one day be claimed by a young girl. [7]

Related Research Articles

Bwlch Human settlement in Wales

Bwlch is a small village and an electoral ward in Powys, southern Wales. The settlement is strung out along the A40 road which crosses a low col above the Usk Valley at this point on its route between Brecon and Crickhowell. The village is a part of the administrative community of Llanfihangel Cwmdu with Bwlch and Cathedine.

Blorenge Mountain in Wales

Blorenge, also called The Blorenge, is a prominent hill overlooking the valley of the River Usk near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, southeast Wales. It is situated in the southeastern corner of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The summit plateau reaches a height of 1,841 feet (561 m).

Talybont-on-Usk Human settlement in Wales

Talybont-on-Usk is a village and community in Powys, Wales, in the historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire). It lies on both the River Caerfanell and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the River Usk. In 2001 it had a population of 743, reducing to 719 at the 2011 Census. the community includes the settlements of Llansantffraed, Scethrog, Aber Village, Powys, and Pencelli.

The Swansea Valley is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from the Brecon Beacons National Park to the sea at Swansea of the River Tawe in Wales. Administration of the area is divided between the City and County of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, and Powys. A distinction may be drawn between the Lower Swansea valley and the Upper Swansea valley; the former was more heavily industrialised during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Penwyllt

Penwyllt is a hamlet located in the upper Swansea Valley in Powys, Wales.

Cefn yr Ystrad

Cefn yr Ystrad is a mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales. It is an outlier of the Central Beacons group.

Fan Gyhirych

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.

Cefn Llechid is a small area of unenclosed land in the Brecon Beacons National Park east of Sennybridge in the county of Powys, Wales. It lies within Fforest Fawr Geopark. Its plateau-like summit surface peaks at 400m where it is marked by a trig point. A couple of small bodies of water lie in a hollow on the plateau. The hill is owned and managed by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.

Cribarth

Cribarth, sometimes referred to as the Sleeping Giant, is a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys in southern Wales. The summit lies on the broken ridge at an elevation of 428 m (1,404 ft) at OS grid reference SN 831143. To its west is a 426-metre-high (1,398 ft) rounded top at SN 829144 which lies just to the northwest of a mile-long ridge that forms the main bulk of the hill. The ridge attains a height of 423 m (1,388 ft) at its southwest end and this spot is marked by a trig point. Both of these latter high points are adorned by Bronze Age burial cairns.

Mynydd Llangatwg

Mynydd Llangatwg or Llangattock Mountain is a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys, south Wales. It is named from the village of Llangatwg which sits in the valley of the River Usk to the north of it. It is essentially an undulating plateau rising in the west to a height of 530 metres (1,740 ft) at grid reference SO171157 and in the east to a height of 529 metres (1,736 ft) at Hen Dy-aderyn / Twr Pen-cyrn. This spot is marked by a trig point. The shallow pool of Pwll Gwy-rhoc sits in a broad depression towards the northern edge of the plateau whilst a smaller pool frequently occupies a large shakehole a few hundred metres to its west. The hill forms an impressive northern scarp overlooking the Usk valley and commonly referred to as the Llangattock Escarpment. Its southern margins are more subdued. Its eastern end is defined by the drops into the Clydach Gorge. Beyond the B4560 to the west the hill merges with Mynydd Llangynidr which has a similar character.

Mynydd Llangynidr is a mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park largely in the county of Powys, south Wales. Its southern slopes extend into the northernmost parts of the county borough of Blaenau Gwent. It is named from the village of Llangynidr which sits in the valley of the River Usk to the north of it. It is essentially an undulating plateau rising in the west to a height of 557m at Garn Fawr at OS grid ref SO 123151. A secondary high point is achieved at a point marked by a trig point at SO 147159. To the north the hill overlooks the valleys of Dyffryn Crawnon and Cwm Claisfer, themselves tributary valleys of the Usk. The shallow upper valley of the Ebbw River reaches into the plateau in the southeast whilst the upper reaches of the Sirhowy Valley and its tributary the Nant Trefil define its western margins. A further tributary, the Nant Milgatw, reaches in from the south whilst the sharp edge of Rassau Industrial Estate also defines a part of its southern margin. Passing east across the B4560, the hill merges with Mynydd Llangatwg which has a similar character.

Trichrug

Trichrug is a hill four miles east of Llandeilo and 3 miles south of Llangadog in the county of Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales. It lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark. Its summit at a height of 415m above sea level is marked by a trig point. It is a Marilyn with a prominence of 191 metres.

Mynydd Bach Trecastell

Mynydd Bach Trecastell is a hill on the border between the counties of Carmarthenshire and Powys in southwest Wales. It lies within the Black Mountain (range) of the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark. Its summit is plateau-like and reaches a height of 412m at OS grid ref SN 827312 at Y Pigwn. The name signifies the 'little hill of castle town'.

The Brecon Forest Tramroad is an early nineteenth century tramroad, or rather a network of connecting tramroads or waggonways, which stretched across the hills of Fforest Fawr in the historic county of Brecknockshire in south Wales, UK. Its northern terminus was at the village of Sennybridge in the Usk Valley whilst its southern ends lay at Abercraf and Ystradgynlais in the upper Swansea Valley some 20 km to the south.

Mynydd Marchywel

Mynydd Marchywel is a 418-metre (1,371 ft) high hill in the Neath Port Talbot area in South Wales. Its summit is marked both by a cairn and a trig point. The larger part of the hill is cloaked in modern forestry through which numerous streams fall away westward to the River Tawe, eastward to the River Dulais and southward into the Clydach, the latter two being tributaries of the River Neath.

Hirfynydd is a 481-metre-high hill in Neath Port Talbot county borough in South Wales. A Roman road, Sarn Helen, runs along its entire northeast–southwest ridge-line, a route followed by a modern-day byway. To its west is Cwm Dulais and to its southeast is the Vale of Neath. The northern end of the ridge falls away to a broad upland vale containing the Afon Pyrddin and beyond which is the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Mynydd-y-Gaer

Mynydd-y-Gaer is a hill that sits on the boundaries between the South Wales communities of Baglan, Cwmavon and Briton Ferry,, all within Neath Port Talbot county borough. The summit, at 314 m (1,030 ft), has grassland fields subdivided by dry stone walls. Foel Fynyddau lies 2 km to east. To the south is the coastal plain of the Bristol Channel. To the West is the Vale of Neath. To the north is the Crythan Brook and the town of Neath. It has numerous prehistoric monuments, and evidence of occupation in medieval times, as well as 19th and 20th century coalmining.

Mynydd Allt-y-grug

Mynydd Allt-y-grug is a 338-metre-high hill immediately west of Ystalyfera in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot in South Wales. Its twin summits are around 400m apart. The upper part of the hill is largely covered in heather whilst conifers clothe its western slopes and gorse, bracken and bramble cover much of its rough landslipped eastern side which rises above the Swansea Valley, drainage on this side flowing to the River Tawe.

This article describes the geology of the Brecon Beacons National Park in mid/south Wales. The area gained national park status in 1957 with the designated area of 1,344 km2 (519 sq mi) including mountain massifs to both the east and west of the Brecon Beacons proper. The geology of the national park consists of a thick succession of sedimentary rocks laid down from the late Ordovician through the Silurian and Devonian to the late Carboniferous period. The rock sequence most closely associated with the park is the Old Red Sandstone from which most of its mountains are formed. The older parts of the succession, in the northwest, were folded and faulted during the Caledonian orogeny. Further faulting and folding, particularly in the south of the park is associated with the Variscan orogeny.

Mynydd Garnclochdy is a gentle summit on the long moorland ridge which extends south from Blorenge towards Pontypool and which defines the boundary between the modern county of Monmouthshire to the east and the county borough of Torfaen to the west though historically it was entirely within the traditional county of Monmouthshire. Its summit, at a height of 448 m (1407 ft), is marked by a small cairn. The summit and the eastern slopes of the hill fall within the Brecon Beacons National Park. A southern top of the hill, Mynydd Garn-wen achieves a height of 436m, and carries a trig point further south again at an elevation of 425m. To the north the broad moorland ridge runs via a poorly defined 425m top and a col at 404m elevation just south of a minor east–west road, into Mynydd y Garn-fawr, east of Blaenavon.

References

  1. Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale map sheet 160 Brecon Beacons
  2. Ordnance Survey Explorer map OL12 'Brecon Beacons National Park: western area'
  3. British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 231 'Merthyr Tydfil' & accompanying memoir
  4. RCAHMW. "Bryn Llechwen Cairn (304746)". Coflein.
  5. RCAHMW. "Garn Goch, Mynydd-y-drum (304745)". Coflein.
  6. Hughes, S. 1990 The Archaeology of an Early Railway System: The Brecon Forest Tramroads RCAHMW, Aberystwyth, Dyfed ISBN   1-871184-05-3
  7. Ash, Russell (1973). Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. Reader's Digest Association Limited. p. 409. ISBN   9780340165973.