Long Mountain ( cy, Cefn Digoll) is a hill straddling the boundary between

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

(

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

) and

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

(

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

) to the east of

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

though the summit at 408 metres (1,339 feet) at Beacon Ring () is within Wales. Long Mountain is a Marilyn (a hill with

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of at least 150 metres), having a prominence of 305 metres (1,000 feet).

Geology

Long Mountain is formed from a succession of

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particle ...

dating from the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...

period. In stratigraphic order i.e. youngest/uppermost first, these are: *Raglan Mudstone Formation (

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.' ...

) *Temeside Mudstone Formation (mudstone, siltstone,

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

) *Tilestones Formation (sandstone) *Cefn Einion Formation (mudstone, siltstone, sandstone) *Knucklas Castle Formation (mudstone, siltstone, sandstone) *Bailey Hill Formation (siltstone, sandstone) (including the Cwm-yr-hob Member (mudstone, siltstone, sandstone) *Irfon Formation (mudstone, siltstone) *Gyfenni Wood Shale Formation (mudstone) *Trewern Brook Mudstone Formation (mudstone) (including the Mottled Mudstone Member) *Tarannon Mudstone Formation (mudstone) *Cefn Formation (mudstone, sandstone) The first three listed above form a part of the

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

sequence and occur only in the easternmost part of the area. The summit which is towards the southwestern end of Long Mountain is formed by rocks of the Knucklas Castle Formation. Numerous faults cut the succession. There are a number of

glaciofluvial deposits Glaciofluvial deposits or Glacio-fluvial sediments consist of boulders, gravel, sand, silt and clay from ice sheets or glaciers. They are transported, sorted and deposited by streams of water. The deposits are formed beside, below or downstream ...

around the margins of Long Mountain, dating from the last ice age. Pockets of glacial

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

of similar age occur in some of the valleys.

Geography

Long Mountain extends from

Forden Forden ( cy, Ffordun) is a village near Welshpool in Powys, Wales, formerly in the historic county of Montgomeryshire. It forms part of the community (and community council) of Forden, Leighton and Trelystan with the neighbouring settlements ...

, in the southwest to Vennington near Westbury in

to the northeast. It is sometimes considered to include the

Breidden Hills Breidden Hill is an extinct volcanic hill in Powys, Wales, near the town of Welshpool. It is immediately surrounded by the villages of Trewern, Middletown, Criggion, Crew Green and Llandrinio. The peak of the hill reaches to . Footpaths which ...

to the north although the latter are separated from Long Mountain's main body by a valley through which run a

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

and a major trunk road (the A458) which both connect Welshpool with

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

History

There was possibly a Roman road along Long Mountain, part of a route from Uriconium (Wroxeter) to Lavobrinta (Forden Gaer). At the southern end of the hill and along its western flanks are traces of

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke ( cy, Clawdd Offa) is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to ha ...

. There is a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

at Beacon Ring, at the southern end of the Long Mountain. This was probably built in the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

and may have been re-used in medieval times. It has been owned by the

Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth Archeolegol Clwyd-Powys (YACP)) is an educational charity which was established in 1975. Its objective is ‘to advance the education of the public in archaeology’. CPAT is one of ...

since 2008, who have in recent years conducted archaeological investigations on the site. Beacon Ring is also famous for the 'EIIR'

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series ...

of the

tree plantation A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...

which covers the site. In 630 the hill was the scene of the Battle of Cefn Digoll, between

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

and an alliance of

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, an ...

and

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , y ...

. Towards the eastern end of the Long Mountain are the remains of Caus Castle, which was built in Norman times upon an earlier,

, hillfort. In 1485, when Henry Tudor invaded via South Wales and travelled north towards the battlefield at Bosworth, it was at the Long Mountain, near

Trelystan Trelystan is a remote parish and township on the border of the historic county of Montgomeryshire with Shropshire. Trelystan now forms part of the community of Forden, Leighton and Trelystan in Powys. Trelystan was a chapel of ease within the pari ...

, on 13 August that he arranged a rendezvous with his Lancastrian supporters, includimg Sir

Rhys ap Thomas Sir Rhys ap Thomas (1449–1525) was a Welsh soldier and landholder who rose to prominence during the Wars of the Roses, and was instrumental in the victory of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth. He remained a faithful supporter of Henry ...

Recreation and access

The

Offa's Dyke Path Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout th ...

leaves Offa's Dyke at

Buttington Buttington (Welsh: ''Tal-y-bont'') is a village in Powys, Wales, less than 3 km from Welshpool and about 300 m from the River Severn, in the community of Trewern. The Montgomery Canal passes through the village. The village stands on a sligh ...

to head for the summit before rejoining the Dyke as it heads away to the south. The

Cross Britain Way The Cross Britain Way is a hiking trail of across England and Wales. Its starting point is Boston on the east coast of England and it finishes in Barmouth on the Welsh coast (or ''vice versa''). It was launched in September 2014 and is one of the ...

shares the route of the Offa's Dyke Path between Buttington and the summit then heads east to Brockton on the southeast edge of the hill. Route 81 of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

runs over Long Mountain on its course between Welshpool and

. There are a couple of areas of open access land, Walton Hill and Heldre Hill and a moderately dense network of public rights of way running between the many minor roads which criss-cross the area. Gunley Wood is a publicly accessible woodland owned and managed by

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales ( cy, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Coun ...

at the southernmost edge of Long Mountain.

References

{{coord, 52, 39, N, 3, 04, W, display=title, region:GB_type:mountain_source:GNS-enwiki Mountains and hills of Powys Hills of Shropshire Marilyns of Wales

Geology

Geography

History

Recreation and access

See also

References