221 CRAIG Y BWCH

GRID REFERENCE: SN 791468
AREA IN HECTARES: 731.60

Historic Background
An area in the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains east of the headwaters of the River Tywi, formerly lying within Cwmwd Hirfryn of Cantref Bychan, which was invaded by the Anglo-Normans under Richard Fitz Pons who established a caput at Llandovery in 1110-16 (Rees n.d.). It was acquired soon after by the Clifford lords of Brecon as the Lordship of Llandovery. However, it retained native tenurial customs until the end of the Medieval period. Area 221 lay within the Manor of Nant-y-bai, which had been granted as a grange to the Cistercians of Strata Florida, probably by Gruffydd ap Rhys in c.1200. It was an upland grange, probably operated by tenant farmers primarily concerned with the mountain pasturing of animals (Sambrook and Page 1995, 18). The manor of Nant-y-bai remained together after the Dissolution as the Ystrad-ffin estate (Carmarthenshire Record Office, Lort Muniments 17/678). It appears to have been unenclosed during the historic period, as it is today, and is depicted as open pasture on the earliest historic maps. There is physical evidence for former use, however; Bronze Age round barrows provide time-depth and evidence for former human occupation of this upland area. There are also a number of former longhuts, characteristic of upland settlement in southwest Wales during the transitional, early Post-Medieval - modern period, and former cottages from the 18th- and early 19th-century (Sambrook and Ramsey, 1999). The area is also characterised by evidence for former lead mining which may have begun under the Cistercians (Williams 1990, 58). It was definitely being undertaken in this area by the late 13th-century, the crown taking the 'eleventh foot' of the ore in taxation (Rees 1968); mining ceased from the mid 19th-century. The presence of coal is noted in the place-name 'Nant-y-glo' and quarries are also present. The area has no recent settlement, but the weir and overflow for Llyn Brianne reservoir, constructed at the northern edge of the area during the 1960s, has had a profound effect on the landscape.

Base map reproduced from the OS map with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright 2001.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD272221

Description and essential historic landscape components
Craig y Bwch character area lies on the eastern side of the upper Tywi valley. From the valley floor at approximately 200 m, the valley sides rise steeply to over 400 m, and then continue to rise onto an undulating plateau at over 470 m. The area is unenclosed. Valley sides are craggy, and the plateau is wet and boggy. Bracken lies on the steep slopes. The plateau is dominated by rough grazing interspersed with pockets of improved land. Quarries and mines, with tramways leading diagonally down the valley side, provide one of the few distinctive man-made features of the landscape.

Recorded archaeology provides time-depth represented by Bronze Age round barrows, while there are longhuts, former cottages and dwellings, and lead mine features from the Post-Medieval period.

The only standing structure is the late 20th century Llyn Brianne weir which deserves note.

Craig y Bwch is a distinctive character area. It is bounded to the west and south by enclosed farmland of the floor of the Tywi valley, to the east and northeast by an extensive upland forestry plantation, and to the north by Llyn Brianne reservoir.