The Sugar Loaf () is a hill situated north-west of Abergavenny in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

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

, within the Brecon Beacons National Park. It is the southernmost of the summit peaks of the Black Mountains, and rises to 1,955 feet (596 metres). The Sugar Loaf was gifted to the National Trust by suffragette Lady Rhondda.

Name

The mountain was originally known as ''Y Fâl'' ("the peak"), while its distinctive summit was known as ''Pen y Fâl'' ("top of the peak"). The modern Welsh name is ''Mynydd Pen-y-fâl'', meaning "mountain of the top of the peak". The name ''Sugar Loaf'' first appears in the 18th century. The mountain shares this name with various others in Great Britain and elsewhere, all named for their perceived resemblance to sugarloaves.

Prehistory

A southern foothill of Sugar Loaf, ''Y Graig'', was discovered in the 1990s to be the site of

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

flint tools dating from the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

Geology

It is a popular misconception that Sugar Loaf is an "

extinct volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the Crust (geology), crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth ...

", an idea born perhaps from the striking resemblance of its conical outline, particularly when seen from the east, to that of a classic volcano. It is however composed entirely of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

s. In common with the rest of the Black Mountains, the hill is formed from Old Red Sandstone which was laid down largely during the early part of the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

Period. Its lower slopes (up to around are composed of mudstones and

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s assigned to the Senni Formation whilst its upper reaches are composed of the more sandstone-rich sequence known as the Brownstones Formation. The very summit of Sugar Loaf is formed from sandstones of the

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

Conglomerate Group which are of late Devonian age. There are a number of landslips on its flanks which are believed to date from early post-glacial times. The former Usk Valley

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

divided to north and south of it as it travelled eastwards, though the mountain itself is largely free from glacial till.

Land use

The larger part of the mountain is in the ownership of the National Trust who manage its grazing by Welsh mountain sheep. The lower slopes are

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

mixed woodland with

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

, heather and

bilberry Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...

, known locally as whinberry, on the upland slopes. The wooded slopes have been designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

. A

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

, producing Sugar Loaf

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

s, is situated at Dummar Farm at the foot of the mountain on south facing slopes near Abergavenny.

Walking and view from the summit

The view from the summit covers the Black Mountains to the north, the Cotswolds to the east, as far as the

Brecon Beacons The Brecon Beacons (; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (), its twin summit Corn Du (), and Craig Gwaun Taf (), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons ha ...

including Pen y Fan and Corn Du to the west and the Bristol Channel to the south. The Skirrid is easily visible to the immediate east, including its spectacular landslip at its northern end. On a clear day it is possible to see hills as far north as Shropshire and as far south as Somerset. The Sugar Loaf is very popular with walkers and hillwalking enthusiasts and offers easy ascents on foot from the Sugar Loaf car park, at about , or longer ascents from Abergavenny, Crickhowell or Llangenny.Geograph photo
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References

External links

Photo showing how it gets its name

Photo from the Skirrid
{{coord, 51.86211, -3.05859, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SO272187), display=title Black Mountains, Wales Mountains and hills of Monmouthshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Monmouthshire Landmarks in Wales Marilyns of Wales