Eglwyseg

[1] Historically, the crags have been quarried for limestone, and there are also several disused lead mines; the land use is currently a mixture of heather moorland managed for Black Grouse, improved sheep pasture and oak woodland, with conifer plantations dating from the second half of the twentieth century.

Some antiquaries, such as Edward Lhuyd and Thomas Pennant, speculated that it may have taken its name from Eliseg (Elisedd ap Gwylog), a historical king of Powys.

[3] The relatively remote area continued to be farmed under freehold tenure; Pennant alluded to this when, writing around 1778, he described the valley: Long and narrow, bounded on the right by astonishing precipices, divided into numberless parallel strata of white limestone, often giving birth to vast yew-trees [...] this valley is chiefly inhabited (happily) by an independent race of warm and wealthy yeomanry, undevoured as yet by the great men of the country.

[4]A medieval church, perhaps the chapel referred to in the name Eglwysegl, was marked on Speed and Saxton's 17th-century maps of the valley, but it had disappeared by 1808.

[1] The school church of St Mary's, built on land donated by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, was opened in 1871; it held its last service in 1985 and has now been converted to residential use.

[8] The manor house of Plas Uchaf yn Eglwyseg [Grid reference SJ 22828 47942] was said to stand on the site of a hunting lodge belonging to Owain ap Cadwgan, a prince of Powys: a story related that it was the place to which Owain took Nest ferch Rhys, when he abducted her and her children from Gerald de Windsor, her husband, in 1109.

[9] Plas Uchaf was later the home of John Jones Maesygarnedd, a prominent Republican in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and one of the regicides of Charles I. Offa's Dyke Path passes through the area, and Eglwyseg is also popular with rock climbers, with around 800 routes, both sport and traditional.

At the next clear bend [Grid reference SJ 2409 4295] the 'Walk' joins the Offa's Dyke Path and affords magnificent views of the Dee Valley, Castell Dinas Brân and the mountains beyond, and Trevor Rocks (with quarry) which marks the easternmost outcrop of the main Eglwyseg Escarpment.