The Brecon Beacons are a mountain range in South Wales. In a narrow sense, the name refers to the range of Old Red Sandstone peaks which lie to the south of Brecon. Sometimes referred to as "the central Beacons" they include South Wales' highest mountain, Pen y Fan. The range forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park, a designation which also encompasses ranges both to the east and the west of "the central Beacons". This much wider area is also commonly referred to as "the Brecon Beacons", and it includes the Black Mountains to the east as well as the similarly named but quite distinct Black Mountain to the west. The highest peaks include Fan Brycheiniog to the west and Pen y Fan in the central part. They share the same basic geology as the central range, and so exhibit many similar features, such as the north-facing escarpment and glacial features such as lakes and cwms (cirques).
The Brecon Beacons National Park is one of three national parks in Wales, and is centred on the Brecon Beacons range of hills in southern Wales. It includes the Black Mountain in the west, Fforest Fawr and the Brecon Beacons in the centre and the Black Mountains in the east.
Llangadog railway station serves the village of Llangadog near Llandeilo, West Wales. The station is on the Heart of Wales Line 36+1⁄2 miles (59 km) north east of Swansea. The station is located at street level at Station Road beside the River Brân. The Garn Goch Iron Age hill fort is about three miles away from this station.
Bethlehem is a tiny farming village in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying in the Tywi Valley northeast of Llandeilo and southwest of Llangadog but on the opposite side of the river from the busy London to Haverfordwest road, the A40.
Llanddeusant is a very sparsely populated community in the Black Mountain (range) of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is about 5 miles southeast of Llangadog.
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.
Fforest Fawr Geopark is a Geopark in the Brecon Beacons National Park, south Wales. It is the first designated Geopark in Wales having gained membership of both the European Geoparks Network and the UNESCO-assisted Global Network of National Geoparks in October 2005. The Geopark aims to promote and support sustainable tourism and other opportunities to improve the economy of the area whilst safeguarding the natural environment. Its aims largely coincide with the statutory duties and purpose of the National Park within which it sits.
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.
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.
The Afon Sawdde is a river in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. For most of its course it flows through the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark.
Waun Lefrith is a top of Picws Du and is also the westernmost of the Carmarthen Fans or Bannau Sir Gaer, 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 Bannau Sir Gaer / 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 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.
Carreg Dwfn is a hill four miles southeast of Llandeilo and just to the south of the village of Trap in the county of Carmarthenshire, south Wales. It lies at the western extremity of the Brecon Beacons National Park and Fforest Fawr Geopark. Its summit at 283 metres (928 ft) is towards the eastern end of a rocky east-west-aligned ridge.
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.
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'.
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.
The geology of Monmouthshire in southeast Wales largely consists of a thick series of sedimentary rocks of different types originating in the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic periods.
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.
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.
