A Brynaman landscape shaped by rock
A walk from the Black Mountain Centre, Brynaman
Summary
The walk starts at the Black Mountain Centre car park in Brynaman. It is about 4km / 2.5 miles long, climbs 110m (350ft) and should take between 1.5 and 2 hours. It explores the rocky foundations of Brynaman as revealed in the gorges cut by the streams which flow down off Y Mynydd Du, the Black Mountain.
When George Borrow visited the area in 1854 he knew the old village as ‘Gwter Fawr’– the ‘big ditch’ – a name which derives from the practice of ‘hushing’ i.e. using artificial floods to scour the soil from the underlying rocks to get at the ironstone and the coal. Brynaman owes its very existence to the rocks on which it sits.
Access
There are no stiles but there are a number of kissing gates on the route. Most paths are hard surfaced though some can be wet and slippery at times. It’s possible to cut back to the Centre at various points along the walk.
Walk description
1. Turn left out of the gate and down the twisting road before crossing (beware traffic!) into Heol y Cwar/ Quarry Road. You may be able to spot four different types of rock used in the buildings and walls beside the road. Some may have been quarried, others were perhaps dumped nearby by glaciers melting away at the end of the last Ice Age:
- Pennant Sandstone
- Millstone Grit/Twrch Sandstone
- Limestone
- Old Red Sandstone
At the top continue along the path through the woodland to the start of a series of steps. Stop to look at the now overgrown quarry. Keep away from the steep faces which are loose in places. This was worked in the 19thcentury for building stone. This bed of sandstone lies within the Coal Measure and is known as the Bryn Vein Rock or the Rhasfach Sandstone. It is only known from this northern part of Brynaman.
2. Continue up the path through the gorge cut by the Nant Melyn. The stream has cut down easily here through the relatively soft mudstones of the lower Coal Measures.
3. Emerge from the woodland onto the open moor and head left for the new footbridge over the stream. Another bed of Coal Measures sandstone occurs just above the footbridge. Take a look at the gorge which the stream has cut through this harder band of rock. Notice that it also offers shelter for a wider range of plants than occur elsewhere on the open moorland which is grazed.
4. Retrace your steps back up from the bridge and follow the path eastwards across the hillside. Boulders of Twrch Sandstone are scattered amongst the vegetation – originating on the Black Mountain ridge, these were dropped here by a melting glacier at the end of the last ice age perhaps 15,000 years ago. Turn left when you reach the A4069 Mountain Road near the cattle grid and follow the road for 120m.
5. Turn right at the waterworks, down a track. After 150m turn right again down a concrete path to a footbridge over the Nant Garw. The Garw can be seen to emerge from a deep valley which it has cut through the Farewell Rock. This hard sandstone marks the base of the South Wales Coal Measures.
Climb the track from the footbridge, bear left at the top. Look far to the south and you will see the valleys of the South Wales Coalfield which cut down through the hard Pennant Sandstones forming the hilltops.
6. After 200m turn right down a track and follow it as it narrows beyond the houses. Turn right and re-cross the Nant Garw to a track. Turn left and follow it down to the A4068 road just west of Pont Cwmgarw.
7. Cross the road and follow a path which parallels the course of the Garw through several fields until you come across a footbridge to your left. Cross the bridge to get a better view of the river and its rocky bed and banks. This is the River Amman which runs over the Coal Measures here – see how the rock strata dips to the south. Note the remains of the old railway bridge too. Retrace your steps over the bridge and bear left to follow the minor stream up through a shaded hollow. Once through a gate, bear left and arrive back at the A4068 Cwmgarw Road. Turn left for the car park and Black Mountain Centre.
Make sure you enjoy tea and cake or perhaps something more substantial in the restaurant! Before or after your walk – or both!