Upper Cwmbran
We parked in Upper Cwmbran, climbing to The Square, which has stone cottages arranged in a square with one side open to the countryside. There was a public house ‘The Squirrel’ which had a school, on the upper floor, for local children. The bus terminus was the site of a mill pond and wool factory which manufactured red flannel shirts for miners.
A stile led to a footpath and the remains of Mineslope Colliery. A noticeboard explained that the beautiful landscape surrounding us was once a thriving industrial site. In 1837 two levels were driven into the hill to extract coal and clay. The clay was used in a nearby brickworks whilst the coal was taken by tram to the newly erected wharf at Caerleon and on to London. The line of the tramway is still visible behind Brickyard cottage which together with Mineslope cottages were built for local workers.
Mineslope Colliery was developed to exploit ‘black gold’. Neglected buildings were demolished in the 1980s and renovation of the site began in 2012. The Engine house remains are visible as is the Lamp house, where miners would have lit their lamps before going underground. There are remains of the fan house, which would have extracted foul air from the mine using a steam driven fan.
We continued, accompanied by a group with 3 Rottweiler dogs which made some of us uneasy, but the dogs were well behaved and playing amongst themselves. We soon came to Blaen Bran reservoir, which is derelict, and the rottweiler group peeled away. Several trees in the forest had been severely damaged by recent storms.
Now we were coming up to the mountain ridge and were exposed to a strong cold wind. The surrounding countryside and Cwmbran were spread out below us and we spied Llandegfedd reservoir in the distance. We followed a good track and after a while found deep ruts, damage from off road vehicles. We passed several mine boundary markers and reached the trig point at the walk’s highest point. We strode across the mountain top, skirting muddy stretches and following a long line of electricity pylons for a time. At lunchtime we ducked down into a dip in the hill sheltering from the wind (partially successful). We had good views of a deep valley and remembered a previous walk.
The track down the mountain was good and we soon found ourselves in the company of a few off-road motorcyclists, we got off the dusty track to avoid being sprayed. Signs warned of a steep drop into a quarry to our left. Turning at the southernmost point of our walk, we spotted the top of Twmbarlwm peeking above the hills.
Now we quickly lost height and came below the quarries, which were covered in vegetation. Three ewes with their lambs walked at the side of the track with us which seemed strange until we realised a man with a dog, was walking behind them. He turned back up the hill before he reached us, and the ewes headed to safe pasture. We had seen buzzards, crows and heard the delightful song of the lark. We passed a pond with a couple of geese above farmland.
Continuing, we were surprised to find a noticeboard about Llanderfel chapel, its remains being in the field ahead. Derfel, known as Derfel Gadarn (mighty, valiant, strong) was a 6th century monk. Legend says he was a follower of King Arthur and one of seven warriors to survive the battle of Camlan. He became a monk after the battle and founded two churches, the other in North Wales. He became bishop of the monastery on Bardsey Island, a holy place where some 20,000 saints are said to be buried.
In the Middle Ages the chapel was part of the Llantarnam Abbey to Penrhys pilgrimage route. Thousands of pilgrims visited the chapel as it was thought that Derfel could enter Hell and bring back the lost soul of a relative. In the sixteenth century a wooden statue of St Derfel was taken from the chapel, under Henry VIII’s orders. Legend said that if the statue was burnt it would burn a forest; it was used as firewood in the public burning of John Forest in 1538 – a Franciscan friar and the confessor of Catherine of Aragon.
As we descended into the valley it was warmer and we spotted stitchwort, sorrel, bluebells, violets and 3cornered leeks.
It had been a windy and cool day but, at the end of the walk, the sun shone and we sat outside for tea with cake (supplied by two of our group with recent birthdays. Thank you both).
Walk 7.5miles 1400ft – Map OS152
