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'.
The Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the England–Wales border into Herefordshire. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently confused with the westernmost, which is known as the Black Mountain. The Black Mountains may be roughly defined as those hills contained within a triangle defined by the towns of Abergavenny in the southeast, Hay-on-Wye in the north and the village of Llangors in the west. Other gateway towns to the Black Mountains include Talgarth and Crickhowell. The range of hills is well known to walkers and ramblers for the ease of access and views from the many ridge trails, such as that on the Black Hill in Herefordshire, at the eastern edge of the massif. The range includes the highest public road in Wales at Gospel Pass, and the highest point in southern England at Black Mountain.
The Sugar Loaf, sometimes called Sugar Loaf, is a hill situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales and sits within the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is the southernmost of the summit peaks of the Black Mountains, with a height of 1,955 feet (596 metres). Sugar Loaf was gifted to the National Trust by suffragette Lady Rhondda.
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 561 metres (1,841 ft).
Crug Hywel is an Iron Age Celtic hillfort, with a clearly visible earth and stone ditch and rampart. Crug Hywel is approached by a couple of public footpaths across farmland from Crickhowell and Llanbedr and visited by the Beacons Way. It lies within an area designated as open country over which the public have the right to roam.
Fan y Big is a subsidiary summit of Waun Rydd in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in southern Powys, Wales. It is 716.6 m (2,351 ft) high and is often hiked as part of the Horseshoe Walk, a traverse of the four main peaks in the Brecon Beacons.
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.
Pen Cerrig-calch is a subsidiary summit of Waun Fach in the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park in southern Powys, Wales. Its summit, at a height of 701 m (2,300 ft), is marked by a trig point. The peak sits high above the River Usk valley as it narrows above the small town of Crickhowell. The views from here are wide-ranging and extend as far as the Beacons themselves to the west. A ridge runs off to the northwest and the shoulder of Pen Gloch-y-pibwr then turns north to the secondary top of Pen Allt-mawr whose peak at 719m is also crowned by a trig point.
Mynydd Illtud is an extensive area of common land near Libanus, Powys, Wales, located in the Brecon Beacons National Park and some three miles south-west of Brecon. The common is an undulating plateau lying between 330 and 370 metres above sea level. Its highest points are 381 metres (1,250 ft) at Allt Lom and 367 metres (1,204 ft) at Twyn y Gaer trig point overlooking the valley of the River Usk. Twyn y Gaer is the site of an Iron Age hill fort.
Tor y Foel is a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys in Wales. It is located on the eastern flank of Talybont Reservoir, and the summit at 551m is marked by a small cairn. It gives excellent panoramic views over the valley of the River Usk, across to the Black Mountains and west to the Brecon Beacons.
Allt yr Esgair is a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys, Wales. It is commonly referred to locally as simply 'The Allt'. The Welsh name signifies 'wooded slope of the ridge'. It takes the form of a northwest-southeast aligned ridge which rises to a height of 393m and which overlooks the valley of the River Usk to the west and south. To the northeast are panoramic views across Llangorse Lake to the Black Mountains There is a viewfinder on the summit erected as a monument to Eirene Lloyd White, Baroness White of Rhymney. It is a Marilyn with a prominence of 199 metres.
Y Garn Goch is a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in the east of Carmarthenshire, Wales. The name means the 'red cairn'. It lies near the village of Bethlehem, three miles southwest of Llangadog and four miles east of Llandeilo on the southern side of the broad Towy Valley. It is also commonly known as either Garn Goch or Carn Goch. Current owners and land managers are the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.
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.
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 Myddfai is a hill 4.5 miles southeast of Llandovery in the county of Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales. It lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark. The hill is in the form of a broad ridge aligned southwest to northeast with three or four distinct tops separated by cols. The northwest side drops steeply away towards the village of Myddfai whilst the other side is a more shallow slope down towards Glasfynydd Forest which encircles Usk Reservoir. The plateau surface of the hill rises to a height of 440m at OS grid ref SN 806297 where a trig point has been erected.
Gaer is the name of a hill in the Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmouthshire, south Wales. It lies at the southern end of the long ridge between the valley of the Grwyne Fawr and the Vale of Ewyas one mile to the north of Bryn Arw and 3 miles northeast of Sugarloaf. Its summit at 427m above sea level sits within an Iron Age hillfort known as Twyn y Gaer.
Mynydd Llangorse is a hill on the western edge of the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Powys, south Wales. It lies two miles east of Llangors and its lake and 5 miles south of Talgarth. Its summit at 515m overtops the location 600m to the south at which a trig point is sited by 9m. The broad spur of Cefn Moel extends south towards the village of Bwlch whilst a spur to the southeast forms Pen Tir which reaches just over 450m above sea level. It is a Marilyn with a prominence of 161 metres.
Hatterrall Hill is a rounded peak in the Black Mountains which sits on the Wales-England border, partly in Monmouthshire, Wales and partly in Herefordshire, England. Its summit at 531m is the high point of a peaty plateau which falls away steeply on all sides. Broad ridges run to the north, the southeast and southwest. To the north the ridge dips to a col at around 485m elevation before rising gradually over several kilometres towards Crib y Garth / Black Hill and Hay Bluff. The ridge to the southwest ends abruptly at the sheer cliff known as the Darren below which is a considerable landslip area extending south to the hamlet of Cwmyoy with its mis-shapen church. The Welsh part of the hill falls within the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Buckland Hill is a low hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys in Wales. Sitting transversely across the Usk valley between the river and the village of Bwlch, it provides excellent panoramic views down the valley and across to the Black Mountains. The summit at 316m above sea level is marked by an OS trig point though this is now within a dense conifer plantation and so no longer affords any outward views. Buckland Hall sits at the foot of the hill's afforested northwestern side.
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.
