Fforest Fawr Geopark

The Geopark aims to promote and support sustainable tourism and other opportunities to improve the economy of the area whilst safeguarding the natural environment.

[4] Fforest Fawr Geopark is run by a partnership of several organisations, the principal ones being Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Cardiff University and the British Geological Survey.

These interests include but are not restricted to:[5] The Geopark comprises the western half the Brecon Beacons National Park in southern Wales.

The designated area includes the surrounding lowlands; principally parts of the Usk, Towy, Tawe and Taf valleys.

Karstic landforms are characteristic of the belt of limestone which runs east-west through the Geopark and include some of Britain's most extensive cave networks including its deepest (Ogof Ffynnon Ddu at 293.5 m (963 ft)[7] and large numbers of shakeholes, the most impressive of which occur where a relatively thin cover of the younger Twrch Sandstone overlies the limestone.

Quarries in the Twrch Sandstone yielded a very pure silica which when crushed, was specially suitable for the manufacture of firebricks.

Bronze Age standing stones, round barrows and stone circles, Iron Age, hillforts and mediaeval castles all feature with Maen Llia, Carn Goch and Carreg Cennen Castle being outstanding examples of each to be found in the Geopark.

Limekilns dot the hillsides wherever limestone puts in an appearance and tramways for conveying both raw materials and finished products are plentiful.

Various leaflets have been published, interpretive panels erected and a website established to promote the Geopark and inform visitors about it.