Cribarth, sometimes referred to as the Sleeping Giant, is a hill in the

Brecon Beacons National Park The Brecon Beacons National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog) 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 (range), Black Mountain ...

located in the traditional county of

Brecknockshire , image_flag= , HQ= Brecon , Government= Brecknockshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= Brycheiniog , Status= , Start= 1535 , End= ...

(currently administered part of the unitary authority of Powys) in southern

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The summit lies on the broken ridge at an elevation of at OS grid reference SN 831143. To its west is a 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 at its southwest end and this spot is marked by a trig point. Both of these latter high points are adorned by

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

burial cairns.

Geology

The hill is formed from both Carboniferous Limestone rocks and the Namurian age Twrch Sandstone (former 'Basal Grit') of the Marros Group (former 'Millstone Grit Series'), also dating from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

Period. It lies on the northeast-southwest aligned geological structure known as the

Cribarth Disturbance The Cribarth Disturbance is a geological structure forming a lineament which stretches across south Wales from Swansea up the Swansea Valley then northeastwards to Brecon and beyond. It consists of both a series of faults and associated folds wh ...

and indeed gives its name to that regionally important structure. The Disturbance is characterised locally by a tight

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

which follows the alignment of the summit ridge and which is accompanied by one or two lesser

fold Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure *Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Above ...

s on its northwestern side. Numerous crags, restricted areas of broken

limestone pavement A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have developed dist ...

and

shakehole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s adorn the slopes of this hill as do various man-made features relating to its geology and described below. The hill has been used by generations of geology students for mapping practice.

Industrial archaeology

The tightly folded limestone beds of the summit ridge of Cribarth are intensely fractured making them easy to quarry. Numerous quarries were worked around the summit of the mountain and on its flanks during the nineteenth century and the rock removed by tram. Several kilometres (miles) of abandoned tramroads weave around the hill and two major inclines link this high-level network to the former

Swansea Canal The Swansea Canal (Welsh: ''Camlas Abertawe'') was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were nee ...

in the

Tawe The River Tawe (; cy, Afon Tawe ) is a long river in South Wales. Its headwaters flow initially east from its source below Llyn y Fan Fawr south of Moel Feity in the Black Mountains, the westernmost range of the Brecon Beacons National ...

valley below. The remains of numerous

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is :Calcium carbonate, Ca ...

s can also be seen.

Rottenstone Rotten stone, sometimes spelled as rottenstone, also known as tripoli, is fine powdered porous rock used as a polishing abrasive for metalsmithing and in woodworking. It is usually weathered limestone mixed with diatomaceous, amorphous, or crysta ...

was also worked to the north and west of Cribarth.Hughes, S. 1990 ''The Archaeology of an Early Railway System: The Brecon Forest Tramroads'' RCAHMW, Aberystwyth, Dyfed

Access

Other than its lower eastern flanks, the entire hill is 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, Ynyswen and Pen-y-cae. A popular ascent of the hill is by way of a concessionary path starting near

Craig-y-Nos Castle Craig-y-nos Castle ( en, Rock of the Night), is a Scottish Baronial country house near Glyntawe in Powys, Wales. Built on parkland beside the River Tawe in the upper Swansea Valley, it is located on the southeastern edge of the Black Mountain. T ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

images of Cribarth and surrounding area on geograph website
Mountains and hills of Powys Black Mountain (hill)