Pen y Fan

The name Pen y Fan consists of the Welsh words pen ('top, head, peak, summit', etc.), y ('the') and fan, a mutated form of ban ('summit, crest, peak, beacon, hill, mountain', etc.). 'The mountain's peak' or 'the top of the summit' are both possible translations.On the elements pen and ban, see the standard historical dictionary of the Welsh language, [http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru]. The noun ban, in its plural form bannau, is found in the Welsh name for the Brecon Beacons: Bannau Brycheiniog.

In earlier times, Pen y Fan itself was sometimes called the '(Brecknock) Beacon' and the early modern English cartographer, John Speed, designated it as Monuchdenny.{{cite book |last=Rogers |first=Pat |date=2022 |title=Defoe's Tour and Early Modern Britain: Panorama of the Nation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-5bEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=296 |isbn=9781009116497}} In the General View of the Agriculture of the County of Brecknock (1794), John Clark of Builth (steward to Viscount Hereford) refers to 'the VANN, or Brecknock Beacon, the undisputed sovereign of all the mountains in South Wales'.{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qsQAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+Vann+or+Brecknock+Beacon%22&pg=RA4-PA9 |title=General View of the Agriculture of the County of Brecknock |year=1794 |location=London |pages=9}} On the tithe map for Cantref parish (1839), the peak of Pen y Fan is called 'Beacon'.{{Cite web |title=Plan of the parish of Cantref in the County of Brecon |url=https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/767251 |access-date=15 February 2023 |website=People's Collection Wales}} This usage is no longer current.{{fact|date=May 2024}}

The peak is a major objective in the Beacons Way, a long distance footpath which passes from east to west across the massif, and is open to all walkers. There are well-made, evenly graded footpaths from the Storey Arms and Pont ar Daf on the A470, which is {{convert|460|m|ft}} below. This and other paths on the mountain are the subject of ongoing repair and maintenance by the National Trust to limit the erosion caused by the passage of hundreds of thousands of walkers each year.{{cite web |title=Footpath work on the Brecon Beacons |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-footpath-repairs |publisher=National Trust |access-date=12 June 2020}} There is also a major path from Cribyn, a close-by peak to the east.

File:Summit of Pen Y Fan.jpg

The summit is on an undulating ridge stretching from Talybont Reservoir in the east, to the A470. About {{Convert|0.5|km|mi|abbr=on|1}} to the south-west lies the subsidiary top of Corn Du, beyond which the terrain drops at a moderate angle to the subsidiary top of Y Gyrn, then more steeply to the Storey Arms on the A470. To the east, the ridge drops steeply to the col connecting it to Cribyn, the next mountain along the ridge. From Corn Du, a ridge with an east-facing escarpment descends gently south towards Merthyr Tydfil.

Like much of upland Wales, Pen y Fan has a Subpolar Oceanic climate, with snowfall possible between November and May. The amount of snow and duration varies significantly from year to year. After a heavy snowfall, the mountain is a popular destination with local skiing enthusiasts.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/dec/11/skiing-snowboarding-wales-england | title=Where to ski in the UK this winter | website=TheGuardian.com | date=11 December 2008 }}

The summit is marked by a reconstructed Bronze Age cairn with a central stone cist, similar to that on the nearby summit of Corn Du. The grave is fitted with a series of concentric stone kerbs to protect the central mound from slippage. The cist is a box formed by vertical stone slabs near the centre of the barrow, and it is currently occupied by the National Trust sign, but will have originally held the ashes or other remnants of a dead person or persons since multiple burials together are common in the British Bronze Age. It also held grave goods left with the human remains, such as flint tools, cinerary urns, or flower tributes. The similar round barrow on Fan Foel was excavated in 2002-4 and revealed such items in the central cist, the flowers being those of meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria).{{cite web |title=Pen-y-Fan, cairn |url=https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/142199/ |website=coflein |publisher=RCAHMW |access-date=20 January 2025}}

{{GB summits start}}

{{GB summits entry|Name=Corn Du|Height={{convert|873|m|ft|0}}|Gridref=SJ066318|Status=sub Hewitt, Nuttall}}

{{GB summits entry|Name=Cribyn|Height={{convert|795|m|ft|0}}|Gridref=SJ066318|Status= Hewitt, Nuttall}}

{{GB summits entry|Name=Y Gyrn|Height={{convert|619|m|ft|0}}|Gridref=SJ066318|Status=sub Hewitt, Nuttall}}

{{end}}

Pen y Fan is formed from various units of the Old Red Sandstone which were laid down during the Devonian period. The lower slopes of the mountain are formed from the sandstones and mudstones of the Senni Formation whilst the upper slopes are formed from those of the Brownstones Formation. The very summit, like that of neighbouring Corn Du, is composed of hard-wearing sandstones of the Pen y Fan Formation (formerly known as the Plateau Beds).{{cite web |title=Pen y Fan Formation |url=https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?pub=PNYF |website=Lexicon of Named Rock Units |publisher=British Geological Survey |access-date=20 January 2025}} The beds of sandstone dip gently southwards towards the South Wales Coalfield basin.

The Brecon Beacons nurtured their own glaciers during the last ice age and both Cwm Llwch and Cwm Sere were excavated by glaciers which grew in the lee of the high ground. Llyn Cwm Llwch occupies a glacially excavated rock hollow and the lake is partly dammed by a late-glacial moraine.British Geological Survey 1:50,000 map sheet 213 'Brecon' & accompanying sheet explanation

The mountain is the highest point within the Fforest Fawr Geopark which was established in 2005 to promote economic development, particularly sustainable tourism, based on the area's geological heritage.

Image:Tommy Jones Obelisk.JPGFile:Pen Y Fan summit, Brecknockshire.jpg

Above Cwm Llwch on the northwest spur of Corn Du is a memorial granite obelisk, with an inscription which reads: "This obelisk marks the spot where the body of Tommy Jones aged 5 was found. He lost his way between Cwm Llwch Farm and the Login on the night of August 4, 1900. After an anxious search of 29 days his remains were discovered Sept [2nd]. Erected by voluntary subscriptions. W Powell Price Mayor of Brecon 1901."

Tommy was the son of a Rhondda coal miner, and had been visiting his grandparents at the time. He died from exhaustion and hypothermia or exposure. How a small boy managed to climb so high remains a mystery.

The obelisk, a useful landmark in misty conditions, was paid for by the proceeds of a memorial fund started when the jurors at the boy’s inquest waived their fees.{{Cite web|url=https://www.breconbeacons.org/discover/about/stories-and-legends|title=Stories and legends|website=Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales}}

The search was used as the theme of the 1980 film Tommy Jones.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6dbf2188|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112062356/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6dbf2188|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2020|title=Tommy Jones (1980)|website=BFI}}

File:Llyn Cwm Llwch.jpg

From the summit on a clear day the Bristol Channel (including the islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm), Carmarthen Bay, Swansea Bay, the Gower Peninsula, the Black Mountains, the Cambrian Mountains, Exmoor, the town of Brecon and much of Mid Wales and the South Wales Valleys, and in a north-easterly direction the Clee Hills in south Shropshire, can be seen.

The mountain has a Summits On The Air (SOTA) reference of GW/SW-001SOTLAS website accessed 19/01/2025 https://sotl.as/summits/GW/SW-001

The Storey Arms is an outdoor education centre beside the A470, the main trunk road between the north and south of Wales, in Brecon Beacons National Park near Libanus, Powys, Wales.{{Cite web |title=Upper Tarell Valley walk |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/trails/tarell-valley-walk |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=National Trust}}{{Cite web |title=Car Park at Pont ar Daf, Brecon Beacons |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/documents/design-and-access-statement---pont-ar-daf-car-park-consultation.pdf |date=December 2016 |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=National Trust |work=Design & Access Statement |page=11}}{{Cite web |title=Get in touch |url=http://storeyarms.com/contact-us/ |year=2017 |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=City of Cardiff Council |work=Storey Arms website}} Run by Cardiff City Council since 1971, the residential centre can accommodate up to 58 people.{{Cite web |title=About us |url=http://storeyarms.com/about-us/ |year=2016 |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=City of Cardiff Council |work=Storey Arms website}}{{Cite web |title=Accommodation |url=http://storeyarms.com/facilities/accommodation/ |year=2016 |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=City of Cardiff Council |work=Storey Arms website}} Its activities include kayaking and canoeing, caving, hill walking, rock climbing and white water rafting.{{Cite web |title=Activities |url=http://storeyarms.com/activities/ |year=2016 |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=City of Cardiff Council |work=Storey Arms website}} The centre is at {{convert|440|m|ft|0}} above sea-level, along the pass between Pen y Fan and Fan Fawr, at the foot of Corn Du.{{Cite web |title=Car Park at Pont ar Daf, Brecon Beacons |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/documents/design-and-access-statement---pont-ar-daf-car-park-consultation.pdf |date=December 2016 |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=National Trust |work=Design & Access Statement |page=14}} It takes its name from a large coaching inn with a pitched slate roof (named after a local landowner, Storey Maskelyne), which was demolished in 1924.{{Cite web |title=Storey Arms Inn, Libanus |url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/725/details/storey-arms-inn-libanus |date=7 March 2005 |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales |work=Coflein }}{{Cite web |title=Storey Arms to the Visitor Centre |url=http://www.breconbeacons.org/explore/things_to_do/walking/where_to_walk/bus_walks/storey_arms_to_the_visitor_centre |access-date=14 January 2017 |publisher=Brecon Beacons National Park}} The site of the original inn is east of the centre, on the northeastern edge of the Pont ar Daf car park.{{Cite web |title=Car Park at Pont ar Daf, Brecon Beacons |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/documents/design-and-access-statement---pont-ar-daf-car-park-consultation.pdf |date=December 2016 |access-date=15 January 2017 |publisher=National Trust |work=Design & Access Statement |page=18}}

Buses stop on either side of the A470 outside the centre.

The car park at Pont ar Daf, {{convert|200|m|ft|0}} from the Storey Arms centre, is the most popular access point for tourists and walkers to Pen y Fan.{{cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/car-parking-charges-could-introduced-12396758 |title=Car parking charges could be introduced for tourists visiting Pen y Fan |author=Katie Sands |publisher=WalesOnline |date=3 January 2017 |access-date=14 January 2017}} The car park, which has space for around 200 cars following a recent expansion and upgrade, is owned by the Welsh Government and run by the National Trust, which now charges for parking. Composting toilet facilities are available at the site.

A footpath connects the Storey Arms centre, bus stops and the Pont ar Daf car park to the path leading to Corn Du and Pen y Fan.

• Beacons Way

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Pen y Fan}}

• Computer generated summit panoramas [http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/WAL/Penyfan-N.gif North] [http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/WAL/Penyfan-S.gif South] [http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas.html Index]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071219153958/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/breconbeacons/ BBC Wales feature on the Beacons]
• [https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brecon-beacons/trails/pen-y-fan-and-corn-du-circular-walk National Trust walking route]
• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2732204 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Pen y Fan and surrounding area]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081205015359/http://www.breconbeacons.org/visit-us/about-the-brecon-beacons/victim-of-the-beacons Victim of the Beacons : The Tommy Jones Story from the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority]
• [http://www.mudandroutes.com/pen-y-fan-walk-from-storey-arms Walk up Pen y Fan from Storey Arms]
• [http://www.traffic-wales.com/cctvdetail.aspx?t=cctv&r=CAM_A470_99_5A_8482&x=297649&y=220472&s=&format=xhtml Traffig Cymru - Traffic Wales CCTV camera at A470 Storey Arms]

{{British hills}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pen Y Fan}}

Category:Marilyns of Wales

Category:Hewitts of Wales

Category:Nuttalls

Category:Brecon Beacons

Category:Landmarks in Wales

Category:Mountains and hills of Powys

Category:Highest points of Welsh counties

Category:Glyn Tarell

Category:Sacred mountains of the United Kingdom