Brecon beacons national park is located in midwales in the uk was established in 1957, under the national parks and access to the countryside act of 1949. Ysgyryd meaning split or shattered, and fawr meaning great. Bustling, workaday abergavenny has played many roles on history s stage. Tintern abbey is a sight for sore eyes, abergavenny food festival a treat and there are hosts of castles.
The first part is up a gravel track before you pass through a gate into the path through the trees. The smaller hill of ysgyryd fach or little skirrid 270m lies about 4. Originally the site of a roman fort gobannium abergavenny became a medieval walled town within the welsh marches with its own norman castle. The isolated hill is 486m high 1,594ft and the welsh name is ysgyryd fawr. For starters she is a woman, and the churchs own website tells us that while male ordinations. Owen sheers is an author, poet and playwright from wales. Though modest in height 486m, it is steeped in history and legend, with magnificent views. The poem is taken from abergavenny poet owen sheers second collection, skirrid hill. In it, several local hills and mountains are creatively arranged. This month the spotlight has fallen on owen sheers, whose stunning poetry and fiction are regular seren bestsellers. A new book acts as a guide to prehistoric wales perfect to explore on your next walk in the beautiful countryside as nathan bevan reports. Legend has it the soil of ysgyryd fawr is very fertile, so pilgrimages were often made to the summit at michaelmas. Its probably a book more talked about and cited as an influence than actually read these days, which is a pity, as its scope and ambition are unusual if not unique.
Its full name is skirrid fawr, taken from the welsh ysgyryd fawr. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. This 900yearold inn at the heart of wales brecon beacons is said to have inspired the writings of shakespeare himself. The mountains local name is ysgyryd fawr but it has such notoriety that it is also known as the holy mountain or sacred hill. My book provides descriptions of some of the largest, tallest and best preserved examples that can be visited. Nestled between three shapely hills the blorenge, ysgyryd fawr skirrid and sugar loaf its a superb base for walkers, and. The mountains are called sugarloaf, ysgyryd fawr and blorenge. Often remote and hard to find, a number of wild and weathered ruins still remain around wales waiting to be found. Roman fort, norman stronghold, tanning and weaving centre, and prison for hitlers deputy. This page was last edited on 18 february 2019, at 07. This fourstar cottage for two has a magnificent floor to ceiling picture window providing unrestricted views across fields and the glyn valley.
This fullyillustrated, 124page book describes the landscape and geology across the brecon beacons national park as seen from the beacons way, a long distance walking route from ysgyryd fawr in the east to bethlehem in the west. Often known by its english name, the skirrid, ysgyryd fawr lies at the eastern edge of the black moutains. Crammed with treasures from the black mountains to the vale of usk and the river severn, youll never be twiddling your thumbs here. Ysgyryd means shake which supports the belief that an earthquake caused the landslip. According to legend, part of the mountain is said to have been broken off at the moment of the crucifixion of jesus. While place names and local landmarks are changed for example, the local market town of abergavenny is renamed gwenton, and the skirrid mountain ysgyryd fawr is renamed the holy mountain, the geographical setting of the novel is remarkably similar to the real pandy, with features such as the river, the railway, and the road, accurately. Ysgyryd fawr known to many as the skirrid loomed ever closer.
Known also as holy mountain, it has the remains of a chapel. We were just given the keys to the bedrooms to go and inspect them. We begin on the beacons way by lanes and fields before starting the main ascent through woodland and then the fine ridge to the summit where there will be time for tales and. Patiently hugh attempted to teach her the correct pronunciation, but she couldnt get her tongue around the unfamiliar sounds. The skirrid is a very famous small mountain in the abergavenny area on the south east edge of the brecon beacons. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the brecon beacons national park, and are frequently confused with the westernmost, which is known as the black mountain. The name of the inn is from the welsh word for shiver ysgyryd. This article is within the scope of wikiproject wales, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on wales on wikipedia. But nothing so mundane as a landslip in local myth. Ysgyryd fawr the skirrid, ysgyryd fach skirrid fach, deri, rholben and mynydd llanwenarth, known locally as llanwenarth breast.
At its foot lies a haven of bounteous joy, a place of worship, too, i suppose, but this time catering for a more modern, earthbound religion. Plas pren i am always dubious when i come across such unusual things as luminous skeletons, so it came as no surprise and with a bit of relief to have this account confirmed as being bogus from richard holland, author of haunted wales. Skirrid is the english corruption of the welsh name, which means split or shattered, a reference to the landslip that divides the summit the legend being that the split occurred when the veil of the temple was rent after the crucifixion of christ. This is a very atmospheric building with a lot of history. Build a plan using abergavenny trip planner and get the right plan for your holiday. It is located on the a40 trunk road and the a465 heads of the valleys r. Ysgyryd fawr, or the skirrid, is also known as the holy mountain or the sacred hill. Dan and i have been here a couple of times, but this was the first time with big. The reverend merrily watkins, who was first brought to life by phil rickman in the wine of angels in 1998, is, on one level, your average workaday anglican parish priest. Friday poem skirrid fawr, owen sheers seren books blog. Today marks the start of the national eisteddfod, this year in abergavenny, and our friday poem talks of an area just a few miles north ysgyryd fawr, or the skirrid. I discovered phil rickman, relatively recently, and thought the month of december would be the perfect time to listen to this stand alone book. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project andor contribute to the discussion.
O ye mountains and hills is one of the most popular panels from st marys, llanfair cilgedin, monmouthshire. Gobannium was a roman fort guarding the road along the valley of the river usk, which linked the legionary fortress of burrium and later isca augusta or isca silurum in the south with y gaer, brecon and mid wales. The most notable species here is grimmia longirostris ns, which grows on a sandstone block in the central valley and is currently known from only one other site in. Fittingly, the name itself is taken from the word ysgyryd, welsh for shiver. Visitors can absorb the haunting aura of castles and cathedrals, voyage through welsh history in openair museums, checkout local artists in seafront art galleries, or curlup with a book in illustrious literary settings. All of this combines to create a mythical atmosphere which adds an extra element to the walk. Dates back to 1087 and makes for a fascinating visit. However, more recent surveys suggest that the top of. His first poetry collection, the blue book seren, 2000, was shortlisted for the forward poetry prize best first collection and acw book of the year 2001. Apparently the little skirrid and its more interesting big brother ysgyryd fawr. Abergavenny cricket club is one of the oldest in the country, it was founded in 1834, and celebrated the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 2009. Telling the story of gwents standing stones, megaliths. Abergavenny trip planner plan your abergavenny trip.
Ysgyryd fawr or great shattered mountain which looms over the. We stopped often to admire the view and to catch our breath. C this article has been rated as cclass on the projects quality scale. There are also stories of angels and the devil associated with the area which has a strong religious history. The skirrid monmouthshire rachael bird freelance writer. The top 10 most haunted places to visit in the uk with. If its a nice day, take a picnic, otherwise simply learn about the history of this historic market town. It was the tenth area in england and wales to be given such status. Great to visit on mid summers day and watch the sunrise.
Ysgyryd fawr skirrid mountain, brecon beacons national park, llanvihangel crucorney, abergavenny, uk. Abergavenny cricket club play at penypound, avenue road, and glamorgan ccc also play some of their games here. Y mynyddoedd duon are a group of hills spread across parts of powys and monmouthshire in southeast wales, and extending across the englandwales border into herefordshire. Although the castle is in ruins the grounds are a delight, with strategically placed benches for resting or picnicking. Skirrid is an easterly outlier of the black mountains in wales, and forms the easternmost part of the brecon beacons national park. Ideas of separation and divorce are important in owen sheers eagerlyawaited. Ysgryd fawr one name, the anglicised skirrid fawr usually just called skirrid two and then holy mountain or sacred hill its third name. It has a sister, little skirrid, lying to the south, caused by a landslip in the ice age. The legend goes that during the crucifixion of jesus, the mountain itself showed its anger by shaking and breaking into two, creating ysgyryd fawr great shiver and ysgyryd fach little shiver.
Skirrid ysgyryd fawr is the most easterly of black mountains hills. And then we were climbing up from the carpark, steeply through the woods, steeper and steeper, then finally up onto the clear ridge. As jocelyn and marie dissolved in laughter, hugh muttered something goodnaturedly under his breath in welsh. Folding doors open onto a terrace with outside seating. Not only does the volumes title refer to one of abergavennys famed three peaks ysgyryd fawr, visible for much of the sir fynwy route, but it also features a pair of poems the hill fort, and, y gaer that would seem to be set on the y gaer summit passed on the way to cymyoy. Ysgyryd fawr is a place of desolation and privation. Davids, southern wales towns host a myriad of unforgettable experiences. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. The mountain is often referred to locally as just the skirrid. Ysgyryd is a word describing the hills shape, meaning something that has shivered or been shattered. Cwmyoy graig is the countys best example of dry, southfacing, old red sandstone slopes, an unusual habitat that is also found at the southern ends of bryn arw and ysgyryd fawr.