Brecon Beacons National Park
The national park includes the highest mountain in South Wales, Pen y Fan, which has an elevation of 886 metres (2,907 ft).[9] In a paragraph on Brecknockshire, John Leland's 1536–1539 Itinerary notes that: Blak Montayne is most famose, for he strecchith, as I have lerned, his rootes on one side within a iiii.The Brecon Beacons range, Fforest Fawr, and Black Mountain form a continuous massif of high ground above 300 metres (1000').The area was inhabited during the Neolithic and the succeeding Bronze Age, the most obvious legacy of the latter being the numerous burial cairns which adorn the hills of the centre and west of the National Park.[23] The area played a significant role during the Industrial Revolution as various raw materials including limestone, silica sand and ironstone were quarried for transport southwards to the furnaces of the industrialising South Wales Valleys.Common ravens, red kites, peregrine falcons, northern wheatears, ring ouzels, and the rare merlin breeds in the park.[32] Outdoor activities in Brecon Beacons National Park include walking, cycling, mountain biking and horse riding, as well as sailing, windsurfing, canoeing, fishing, rock climbing, hang-gliding, caravanning, camping and caving.A long-distance cycling route, the Taff Trail, passes over the Beacons on its way from Brecon to Cardiff, and in 2005 the first walk to span the entire length of the park was opened.The 99-mile (159 km) route, called the Beacons Way, runs from Abergavenny via The Skirrid (Ysgyryd Fawr) in the east and ends in the village of Llangadog in Carmarthenshire in the west.The railway's starting point at Pant is located two miles (3 km) north of Merthyr Tydfil town centre.Their work is not restricted to mountain rescue – they frequently assist the police in their search for missing or vulnerable people in the community.The Brecon Beacons are used for training members of the UK armed forces and military reservists.An army captain had been found dead on Corn Du earlier in the year after training in freezing weather for the SAS.[34] On 17 April 2023 it was announced that the National Park had officially adopted the name Bannau Brycheiniog in both Welsh and English.[40][41] Upon the news of the name change the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated "I'm going to keep calling it the Brecon Beacons, and I would imagine most people will do that too.The campaigners say the decision did not respect Wales as a bilingual nation as it did not treat English and Welsh languages equally, and ambassadors of the park were not consulted on the name change.
IUCN categorynational parkBrecon BeaconsPen y FanFforest FawrBlack MountainsBlack MountainWaun FachFan Brycheiniognational park in WalesSnowdoniaPembrokeshire CoastBrycheiniogJohn LelandMonemuthCarmarthentithe mapTheophilus JonesBlack Mountain (range)Black Mountains, United KingdomCribynLlandeiloHay-on-WyePontypoolBlack HillHerefordshireFan y BîgBwlch y DdwyalltWaun RyddcirquesUsk valleyHenrhyd FallsYstradfellteOgof Ffynnon Ddutown and community councilsCefn-coed-y-cymmerLlanfihangel CwmduCathedineLlangattockLlangorsLlanthonyLlywelPontsticillVaynorTalybont-on-UskTrallongTrecastleLlangynidrTor y FoelAllt yr EsgairBuckland HillMynydd TroedMynydd LlangorseMyarthGeology of Brecon Beacons National Parksuccessionsedimentary rocksOrdovicianSilurianDevonianCarboniferousOld Red SandstonefoldedfaultedCaledonian orogenyVariscan orogenyNeolithicBronze Ageround barrowsradiocarbon datingmeadowsweethillfortsIron AgeSouth Walesy Garn GochBethlehem, CarmarthenshireWelsh Mountain PonyY GaerCarreg Cennen CastleBrecon Castledroverscattlegorse seedIndustrial RevolutionSouth Wales ValleysBrecon Beacons Mountain CentreFforest Fawr GeoparkInternational Dark Sky ReserveSouth Wales Gas PipelinemoorlandWelsh mountain poniesWelsh mountain sheepforestryplantationspastureCommon ravensred kitesperegrine falconsnorthern wheatearsring ouzelsmerlinPembrokeshire Coast National ParkMonmouthshireCarmarthenshireRhondda Cynon TafMerthyr TydfilBlaenau GwentTorfaenwalkingcyclingmountain bikinghorse ridingsailingwindsurfingcanoeingfishingrock climbinghang-glidingcaravanningcampingcavingTaff TrailCardiffBeacons WayYsgyryd FawrLlangadog