Wales
Banc y Garn
437M
1434FT
About Banc y Garn
Situated on the western fringes of the Pumlumon massif, this modest Welsh summit offers a wild, untamed character typical of the Cambrian Mountains. Its rounded, grassy profile is capped by a prehistoric cairn, providing a quiet vantage point over the Afon Castell valley and the massive bulk of nearby Pumlumon Fawr.
Key Statistics
Rank
391st Highest in Wales
Parent Range
Central Wales
Prominence
?
105m
Nearest Town
Cwmsymlog
Geology
You are walking over mudstone from the Derwenlas and Rhayader formations. These layers of fine-grained rock were created as ancient mud hardened into the foundation beneath your boots.
Nearby Fells
Banc Trawsnant
Banc Trawsnant
Banc Lletty Ifan Hen
Banc Lletty Ifan Hen
Mynydd March
Find It
OS Grid Reference
SN706844
Latitude
52.4422°N
Longitude
3.9052°W
Did You Know?
- •The name is Welsh, where 'banc' refers to a hill or slope and 'garn' (a mutation of 'carn') signifies a cairn. This 'Hill of the Cairn' is named for the prehistoric stone mound that still marks its highest point.
- •The summit provides a clear, uncrowded view of the Afon Castell winding below and the sprawling, peat-hued ridges of the Pumlumon range stretching out towards the east.
- •The summit cairn is likely a Bronze Age funerary monument, part of a wider network of prehistoric sites scattered across these high, exposed grazing lands.
- •Like much of the Cambrian Mountains, the terrain consists of rough grass and blanket bog; in this part of Wales, a 'well-defined path' is often a polite term for a sheep track that disappears the moment the mist rolls in.