Wales · Bannau Brycheiniog National Park

Fan Fawr

HewittNuttallMarilynHuMPSimm

3 classifications here — Marilyn, HuMP and Simm — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.

Fan Fawr, 734 m, Powys
Fan Fawr, 734 m, Powys. Photo by Gabby77 (talk), Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Height
734 m · 2,408 ft
Grid reference
SN 96989 19369
Coordinates
51.86332, -3.49741
County / area
Powys
OS Landranger
160
OS Explorer
OL12E
Summit feature
no feature: 6m WNW of cairn
Key col
SN982203 (439 m)

About Fan Fawr

The name Fan Fawr means 'great peak' in Welsh. It stands in the Fforest Fawr part of the Bannau Brycheiniog national park in Powys, with a cairn on the summit overlooking a steep eastern face. The trig point is not on the top at all, but 600 m away to the south-west on a subsidiary spur.

Water leaves the hill in several directions. Streams west feed the Afon Dringarth, dammed to form Ystradfellte Reservoir, while those east feed the Taf Fawr and Beacons Reservoir. Drainage north-east reaches the Afon Tarell and the Usk; to the south the Afon y Waun runs to the Hepste and eventually the Neath.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Fan Fawr (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

Conditional Right to roam: Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land.

Permission needed Wild camping: Permission needed everywhere.

General position for Wales — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Wales ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise
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Sunset
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Daylight
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Civil twilight ends
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Computed astronomically for 51.863, -3.497. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Summit weather live

Loading forecast for the summit (734 m)…

Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is no feature: 6m WNW of cairn. On broad or flat summits the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method
Abney level
Record revised
28-Oct-01
Drop measured from
SN982203 · 439 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Long-distance paths past this hill

2 waymarked long-distance routes run within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.

RouteTotal lengthFrom summit
Beacons Way155 km1.1 km
Taff Trail101 km1.5 km

Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Rated places to eat within 10 km of Fan Fawr
PlaceTypeRatingDistance
Storey Arms Outdoor Education CentreHotel/bed & breakfast/guest house5 out of 51.6 km · NE
The Tai'r Bull InnPub/bar/nightclub5 out of 57.5 km · N
The Old Barn Tea RoomRestaurant/Cafe/Canteen5 out of 58.6 km · SE

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

The Fan Fawr group

3 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Fan Fawr as the independent hill at its head.

Listed summits in the Fan Fawr prominence group
SummitHeightDrop
Fan Llia632 m100 m
Craig Cerrig-gleisiad629 m75 m
Fan Frynych628 m46 m

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks

PeakHeightDistance
Craig Cerrig-gleisiad629 m2.6 km
Y Gyrn618.7 m2.9 km
Fan Llia631.9 m3.2 km
Fan Frynych628.3 m3.6 km
Craig Gwaun Taf826.4 m3.8 km
Corn Du871.5 m4.2 km