Brecon Beacons
The Brecon Beacons are a mountain range in Wales. The range includes South Wales's highest mountain, Pen y Fan, its twin summit Corn Du, and Craig Gwaun Taf, which are the three highest peaks in the range. The Brecon Beacons have given their name to the larger Brecon Beacons National Park, and the range itself is therefore sometimes known as the Central Beacons to differentiate the two.
Toponymy
Bannau Brycheiniog derives from the Welsh bannau, "peaks" and Brycheiniog, the early medieval kingdom which covered the area. The English name is derived from the Welsh. This name is first attested in the sixteenth century in John Leland's 1536–1539 Itinerary of Wales. Under his description of the Brecknockshire landscape Leland states :The name Brecon Beacons first occurs in the eighteenth century and referred to the area around Pen y Fan. For instance, Emanuel Bowen's A New and accurate map of South Wales labels the peak as 'The Vann or Brecknock Beacon', John Clark's 1794 General View of the Agriculture of the County of Brecknock refers to 'the Vann, or Brecknock Beacon, the undisputed sovereign of all the mountains in South Wales', and an 1839 tithe map of Cantref parish labels the mountain simply 'Beacon'. A slightly wider definition was used in 1809 by the Breconshire historian Theophilus Jones, who wrote that 'of the lofty summits of the Brecknock Beacons, that most southwards is the lowest, and the other two nearly of a height, they are sometimes called Cader Arthur or Arthur's chair'. This implies that "Brecknock Beacons" referred to only three summits, including Pen y Fan and Corn Du.
To distinguish the Brecons Beacons range from the national park, the range is sometimes called the "Central Beacons".
Geography
The Brecon Beacons comprises six main peaks, which from west to east are: Corn Du, ; Pen y Fan, the highest peak, ; Cribyn, ; Fan y Bîg, ; Bwlch y Ddwyallt, ; and Waun Rydd,. These summits form a long ridge, and the sections joining the first four form a horseshoe shape around the head of the Taf Fechan, which flows away to the southeast. To the northeast of the ridge, interspersed with long parallel spurs, are four cirques or round-headed valleys; from west to east these are Cwm Sere, Cwm Cynwyn, Cwm Oergwm and Cwm Cwareli.The Brecon Beacons range, Fforest Fawr, and Black Mountain form a continuous massif of high ground above 300 metres. The A470 road forms an approximate boundary between the central Beacons and Fforest Fawr.