Key events which have shaped this area are listed in chronological order.  Some took place outside the Geopark area but had profound effects within it, for example the building of canal links to the south which permitted increased mining and quarrying activity in the hills of the Geopark.

If you want to look further back in geological time then take a look at the geological timescale.

Year

• AD 50’s & 60’s  Roman campaigns probe west to the Tywi valley, establishing camps in Mynydd Myddfai area.  Roman fort of Brecon Gaer established.
• c.200  Brecon Gaer ceases to function as a Roman military base
• 1093  Having defeated the Welsh rulers of the region, Bernard de Neufmarche, first Norman Lord of Brecon created the hunting preserve of ‘the Great Forest of Brecknock’.
• c. 1095  Bernard de Neufmarche constructs motte at Trecastle.
• 1096 Battle of Aber-llech - Welsh victory over Norman forces at confluence of Nant Llech and Afon Tawe near Abercraf
• c.1100 Brecon Cathedral begins life as a Benedictine priory.
• 1248  Welsh Lord, Rhys Fychan regains control of Carreg Cennen Castle from English.
• 1277  King Edward I seizes Carreg Cennen Castle from Maredudd ap Rhys Grug.
• 1403  English stronghold of Carreg Cennen Castle besieged during rebellion led by Owain Glyndwr.
• 1462  Destruction of Carreg Cennen Castle after its Lancastrian occupiers were defeated by the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses.
• 1521  The Crown acquires the lands of the ‘Great Forest of Brecknock’.
•  c.1550  The ‘Little Ice Age’ begins
• 1617  Agistment of the Great Forest granted to Sir Francis Bacon and others.
• 1695  Death of Henry Vaughan
• 1724  Daniel Defoe visits the area and writes of it as ‘horrid and frightful’
• 1755  Brecknockshire Agricultural Society founded
• 1760  The start of the Industrial Revolution.
• 1780's Silica rock first quarried near Craig-y-ddinas
• 1794 Construction of Swansea Canal starts.
• 1795 Completion of the Neath Canal from Neath to Glyn-neath.
• 1798 Construction of Swansea Canal to Abercraf completed.
• 1807 'Dr Bevan's tramroad' constructed from Dinas Rock to the Neath Canal.
• 1808 Act of Parliament enables the sale of the Great Forest of Brecknock.
• 1816  Brecon & Hay Tram Road opened.
• 1817  Great Forest enclosed.
• 1819 (or 1815?)  Wealthy London merchant John Christie purchased a large part of the Great Forest as it is sold by the Crown to finance the Napoleonic Wars.
• 1819 Amman Valley mine owner, John Jones constructs the modern Brynaman-Llangadog road over the Black Mountain.
• 1820  William Weston Young invents the refractory brick (or ‘firebrick’)
• 1821  John Christie completes construction of model farm at Cnewr.
• 1822  William Weston Young founds the Dinas Silica Brick Company.
• 1824 John Christie completes the 10 mile long tramroad from Pwll Byfre quarry to Sennybridge.
• 1825  John Christie constructs limekilns at Twyn-y-ffald, Penwyllt.
• 1826 John Christie begins construction of various tramways on Cribarth.
• 1827  John Christie declared bankrupt.
• 1835 December: Gloucester & Carmarthen Mail Coach crashes into ravine outside Llandovery.  A monument is subsequently erected beside the road warning of the dangers of drink-driving.
• 1836  New hot blast iron-smelting technique developed by David Thomas at the ironworks owned by George Crane at Ynyscedwyn near Ystradgynlais.
• 1839  Sir Roderick Murchison publishes ‘The Silurian System’ following fieldwork in central Wales.
• 1840  New limekilns at Twyn Disgwylfa replace those at Twyn-y-ffald, Penwyllt.
• 1840 Brecon Forest Tramroad Company was forcibly wound up.
• 1840’s: Craig-y-nos Castle constructed.
• 1841 April: Llygad Llwchwr cave first explored by Thomas Jenkins of Llandeilo.
• 1842  Shire Hall, Brecon built - became Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery in 1974
• 1845  Banwen Ironworks founded
• 1846, June:  Training to be a field naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace walks from Neath to Pen y Fan and back via Sgwd Gwladus and Cwm Porth - he later spurs Charles Darwin to publish 'On the Origin of Species'.
• c.1850  The ‘Little Ice Age’ ends
• 1851 Opening of the Vale of Neath Railway.  It was to take trade away from the Neath Canal which finally closed as a result.
• 1854  October: George Borrow records his trip across the Black Mountain in ‘Wild Wales’.
• 1857  Establishment of the Vale of Neath Powder Company’s works at Pontneddfechan.
• 1859  The Brecon & Merthyr Railway opens.
• 1862 Curtis & Harvey take over operation of the Gunpowder Works.
• 1863  Pentwyn Reservoir completed by Merthyr Health Board.
• 1869  Completion of the Neath & Brecon Railway between the two towns.
• 1878  Opera singer, Adelina Patti purchases Craig-y-nos Castle.
• 1884  Henllys Vale Colliery established?
• 1884  Lower Neuadd Reservoir completed by Merthyr Tydfil Corporation.
• 1892  Cantref Reservoir completed by Cardiff Corporation.
• 1897  Beacons Reservoir completed by Cardiff Corporation.
• 1898  Henllys Vale Colliery opened?
• 1900  August: Tommy Jones disappears at the head of Cwm Llwch.  He is later commemorated by a granite obelisk.
• 1902  Upper Neuadd Reservoir completed by Merthyr Tydfil Corporation.
• 1904  May: Tragic death of youth, David John Morgan on Black Mountain, later commemmorated in verse: 'From the Mist to Heaven'
• 1906 27 June: The Swansea Earthquake felt all around the region.
• 1907  Cray Reservoir opened.
• 1912 Jeff and Ashwell Morgan first explore Dan-yr-Ogof cave.
• 1914  Ystradfellte Reservoir completed by Neath Rural District Council
• 1919  End of the First World War and setting up of the Forestry Commission with a remit to supply Britain’s strategic timber needs.
• 1920  Penderyn Reservoir completed by Mountain Ash UDC.
• 1921  March: Craig-y-nos Castle and grounds sold to the Welsh National Memorial Trust for £11,000 and was established as the ‘Adelina Patti Hospital’ for tuberculosis sufferers.
• 1926 Nobel’s Explosive Company at Pontneddfechan becomes part of Imperial Chemical Industries.
• 1926  Llwyn-onn Reservoir completed by Cardiff Corporation.
• 1926  General Strike includes strike by colliers: some marginal land brought back into production.
• 1927 Pontsticill Reservoir completed by Merthyr Tydfil Corporation.
• 1930’s  Level of Llyn y Fan Fach raised to supply water to Swansea.
• 1931  31 December: Final closure of the Gunpowder Works at Pontneddfechan
• 1932  Demolition and burning of Gunpowder Works at Pontneddfechan
• 1932  Carreg Cennen Castle is placed in the guardianship of the Government Office of Works.
• 1934 Final closure of the Neath Canal - though it had seen little traffic for years.
• 1941 Iron-making ceases at Ynyscedwyn, Ystradgynlais
• 1946  Peter Harvey and Ian Nixon discover Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, Britain’s deepest cave, in the upper Swansea Valley.  The known section is 308m/1010ft deep.
• 1949  The National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act is passed, paving the way for the designation 8 years later of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
• 1950’s  Silica sand quarries at Pal y Cwrt close down.
• 1955  Usk Reservoir opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II
• 1957  Brecon Beacons National Park is designated
• 1960  The Brecon & Merthyr Railway closes.
• 1962  The Neath & Brecon Railway closes to passengers.
• 1974  Local government reorganisation in Wales sees (amongst others) the counties of Dyfed, Powys and West Glamorgan created.
• 1977  Final closure of the Neath & Brecon Railway to all traffic.
• 1980  June: Brecon Mountain Railway opens on a section of the line of the former Brecon & Merthyr Railway.
• 1984  Purchase by National Park Authority of 9300Ha of common land including much of the Black Mountain, Fforest Fawr, Cefn Llechid and Mynydd Illtud.
• 1984-85: National miners' strike - major event in history of South Wales Coalfield, affecting communities along southern fringe of Geopark 
• 1985  31 March: Closure of the tuberculosis hospital at Craig-y-nos Castle.
• 1987 March: National Park Authority purchases Garn Goch
• 1993 June: National Park Authority purchases the Arcway (old railway line) between Hirwaun and Penderyn and subsequently develops it as a trail.
• 1996  April: Establishment of new unitary authorities across Wales to replace the two-tier structure which had been in place since 1974.  These included Powys County Council, Carmarthenshire County Council, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council.
• 2001  Foot & Mouth disease breaks out in Essex and later spreads to Wales, effectively closing large swathes of the National Park.
• 2001  November: The Countryside & Rights of Way Act is passed by Parliament paving the way for open access in Wales 3 ½ years later.
• 2005  28 May: The public’s right to open access on foot across registered common land, mountain, moor, heath & down commences in Wales.
• 2005  October: Fforest Fawr becomes a member of the European Geoparks Network and UNESCO Global Network of National Geoparks
• 2008  September: Fforest Fawr Geopark is revalidated.