Pen Cerrig-calch

About Pen Cerrig-calch

Rising steeply above the Usk Valley near Crickhowell, this prominent Hewitt is distinguished by its capping of Carboniferous limestone, a rarity in the Old Red Sandstone of the Black Mountains. The broad, grassy plateau offers a stark contrast to the craggy escarpments overlooking the Vale of Crickhowell and the neighboring Pen Allt-mawr.

Key Statistics

Find It

Did You Know?

• •The name is Welsh for 'Head of the Limestone Rock,' identifying the rare outcrop of Carboniferous limestone that sits like a cap on the summit. This geological outlier survived erosion while the surrounding limestone was stripped away, leaving a distinctive patch of alkaline soil in an otherwise acidic sandstone landscape.
• •Evidence of the hill's industrial past remains visible in the form of old limestone quarries and the ruins of lime kilns on its southern flanks, where stone was once processed for agricultural use in the valleys below.
• •The summit plateau provides an excellent vantage point for surveying the Usk Valley, with the distinctive conical profile of the Sugar Loaf and the flat-topped Blorenge clearly visible to the south and east.
• •It serves as the primary gateway to the high ridges of the western Black Mountains, usually tackled as the first major climb on a circular route from Crickhowell that connects to the higher peak of Pen Allt-mawr.
• •Despite the 'limestone' promise in its name, most walkers will find the approach dominated by the more traditional Black Mountains staples of tenacious bracken and damp peat.