Fforest Fawr

Formerly known as the Great Forest of Brecknock in English, it was a royal hunting area for several centuries but is now used primarily for sheep grazing, forestry, water catchment and recreation.

The second set of faults form something of a swarm which run north-northwest to south-southeast and are most apparent within the limestone and Millstone Grit outcrop.

There are also round barrows visible usually as cairns sometimes on the peak summits, such as that on Fan Gyhirych but also elsewhere on what is now wild moorland.

The cairn on Fan Foel excavated in 2002-4 showed a central cist with the ashes and bones of a woman and two children of date about 2000 BC with a possible wreath of meadowsweet flowers.

[5] Following the Norman Conquest the area was owned by the Lord of Brecon, Bernard de Neufmarche, eventually passing into the possession of the Crown in 1521.

The entrepreneur John Christie purchased some of this land and subsequently constructed a tramroad across the area from Sennybridge to Ystradgynlais in an effort to improve agricultural production though the venture ran into financial difficulties.

[6] Parts of the area, notably on the flanks of Cefn Cul above Cray Reservoir, were set aside during the 19th century for rabbit breeding for both fur and meat.

The headwaters of the northerly-flowing Afon Crai are stored in Cray Reservoir immediately west of the A4067 Ystradgynlais to Sennybridge road.