Wales
Moelfryn Mawr
503M
1651FT
About Moelfryn Mawr
Rising above the Elan Valley's Caban-coch Reservoir, this rounded Cambrian summit offers a quiet escape from the busier lakeside paths. The terrain consists of typical mid-Wales moorland—rough grass and heather—providing clear, earned views across to the higher domes of Drygarn Fawr and the wild, rolling plateaus of the Elan Estate.
Key Statistics
Rank
142nd Highest in Wales
Parent Range
Central Wales
Prominence
?
21m
Nearest Town
Elan Village
Geology
The ground beneath your boots is formed from the Rhayader Mudstones, an ancient foundation created from layers of fine mud that hardened into solid rock.
Classifications
Nearby Fells
Find It
OS Grid Reference
SN924676
Latitude
52.2960°N
Longitude
3.5792°W
Did You Know?
- •The name is Welsh for 'Great Bare Hill', with 'Moel' specifically describing a treeless, rounded summit—a characteristic feature of the Central Wales uplands shaped by glacial action and centuries of sheep grazing.
- •The hill sits within the 70-square-mile Elan Estate, land famously purchased by the Birmingham Corporation in the 1890s to create the reservoirs that still provide the city’s water supply today.
- •From the summit, walkers can look directly down onto the submerged site of Nantgwyllt House, a mansion where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley once lived, now lost beneath the waters of the Caban-coch Reservoir.
- •While the name translates to 'Great Bare Hill', you may find it is considerably less bare than your trousers after navigating the local peat hags on a typical damp afternoon.