Farewell Rock
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Farewell Rock by Alan Bowring as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Farewell Rock
Image: © Alan Bowring Taken: 9 Feb 2008
A popular path starts up beside the Nedd Fechan from behind the Angel Inn. It was originally cut into the sheer sides of the gorge to accommodate a tramway to bring 'silica rock' - a particularly pure sandstone suitable for the manufacture of refractory bricks - down from the various mines further up the valley. However the rock outcrop here is an example of another thick bed of sandstone known as the 'Farewell Rock' which marks the very base of the South Wales Coal Measures. Mining below it was fruitless, as no further ironstone or coal seams would be encountered - 'farewell' to useful mining - hence the colourful name.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.757514
Longitude
-3.594834