Brecon Beacons

The Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog; ) are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan (886 m), its twin summit Corn Du (873 m), and Craig Gwaun Taf (826 m), which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons have given their name to the larger Brecon Beacons National Park, and the range itself is therefore sometimes known as the Central Beacons to differentiate the two.

Toponymy
The name Bannau Brycheiniog is first attested in the sixteenth century, and 'Brecon Beacons' first occurs in the eighteenth century as "Brecknock Beacons". Bannau Brycheiniog derives from the Welsh bannau, "peaks", and Brycheiniog, the name of an early medieval kingdom which covered the area. The English name is derived from the Welsh one; in the eleventh century the town of Brecon is recorded as 'Brecheniauc', which became "Brecknock" and "Brecon".

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. or v. myles of Monemuth, and on the other side as nere to Cairmerdin (Carmarthen). Though this be al one montayne, yet many partes of him have sundry names."

Leland ascribes the name "Banne Brekeniauc" to the hills surrounding "Artures Hille" (Pen-y-Fan), also calling the range the "Banne Hilles".

The term "Brecknock Beacons" was used in the eighteenth century and referred to the area around Pen y Fan, which was itself was sometimes called 'the (Brecknock) Beacon'. For instance, Emanuel Bowen's A New and accurate map of South Wales (1729) labels the peak as 'The Vann or Brecknock Beacon', John Clark's 1794 General View of the Agriculture of the County of Brecknock refers to 'the Vann, or Brecknock Beacon, the undisputed sovereign of all the mountains in South Wales', and an 1839 tithe map of Cantref parish labels the mountain simply 'Beacon'. A slightly wider definition was used in 1809 by the Breconshire historian Theophilus Jones, who wrote that 'of the lofty summits of the Brecknock Beacons, that most southwards is the lowest, and the other two nearly of a height, they are sometimes called Cader Arthur or Arthur's chair'. This implies that "Brecknock Beacons" referred to only three summits, including Pen y Fan and Corn Du.

To distinguish the Brecons Beacons range from the national park, the range is sometimes called the "Central Beacons".

Geography
The Brecon Beacons comprises six main peaks, which from west to east are: Corn Du, 873 m; Pen y Fan, the highest peak, 886 m; Cribyn, 795 m; Fan y Bîg, 719 m; Bwlch y Ddwyallt, 754 m; and Waun Rydd, 769 m. These summits form a long ridge, and the sections joining the first four form a horseshoe shape around the head of the Taf Fechan, which flows away to the southeast. To the northeast of the ridge, interspersed with long parallel spurs, are four cirques (Welsh: cymoedd, sing. cwm) or round-headed valleys; from west to east these are Cwm Sere, Cwm Cynwyn, Cwm Oergwm and Cwm Cwareli.

The Brecon Beacons range, Fforest Fawr, and Black Mountain form a continuous massif of high ground above 300 metres (1000 feet). The A470 road forms an approximate boundary between the central Beacons and Fforest Fawr.

National park
The Brecon Beacons National Park was established in 1957, the third of the three Welsh parks after Snowdonia in 1951 and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in 1952. It covers an area of 519 sqmi, which is much larger than the Brecon Beacons range. Over half of the park is in the south of Powys; the remainder of the park is split between northwestern Monmouthshire, eastern Carmarthenshire, northern Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil, and very small areas of Blaenau Gwent, and Torfaen.

Brecon Mountain Railway
A railway with narrow gauge trains is run by the Brecon Mountain Railway. The railway is a narrow gauge tourist railway on the south side of the Brecon Beacons range. It climbs northwards from Pant along the full length of the Pontsticill Reservoir (also called 'Taf Fechan' reservoir by Welsh Water) and continues past the adjoining Pentwyn Reservoir to Torpantau railway station. The railway's starting point at Pant is located 2 mile north of Merthyr Tydfil town centre.

Military training


The Brecon Beacons are used for training members of the UK armed forces and military reservists. The Army’s Infantry Battle School is located at Brecon, and the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service use the area to test the fitness of applicants. An exercise unique to the area is the 'Fan dance', which takes place on Pen y Fan. In July 2013 three soldiers died from overheating or heatstroke on an SAS selection exercise. An army captain had been found dead on Corn Du earlier in the year after training in freezing weather for the SAS.