Moel Famau

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Coordinates: 53°9′49.7″N 3°15′14.59″W / 53.163806, -3.2540528

Moel Famau
The summit of Moel Famau, showing the Jubilee Tower
Elevation	555 m (1818 ft)
Location	Clwydian Range, Wales
Prominence	c. 272 m
Topo map	OS Landranger 116
Listing	Marilyn, Council top
Translation	Hill of the Mothers (Welsh)
Pronunciation	[mɔil 'vamai]

Moel Famau is a hill and country park in Denbighshire, Wales (though its peak is shared with Flintshire, since the border between the two counties runs through it).

The park is an important part of the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The heather provides food and shelter for wildlife, such as Red Grouse, European Stonechat and Eurasian Curlew.

The park covers an area over 2000 acres (8 km²) and is managed by Denbighshire Countryside Service. The service improves the heather moorland, dry stone walls and access paths and provides information and facilities for visitors. Forestry Enterprise manage the neighbouring forest as a sustainable conifer plantation for timber production and tourism.

On a clear day, it is possible to see the Isle of Man, and much of the North West of England such as Liverpool, Manchester, Winter Hill, Blackpool Tower and Cumbria.

[edit] Jubilee Tower

The Jubilee Tower on the peak of Moel Famau was a tower built to commemorate the golden jubilee of George III in 1810. A storm in 1862 reduced the impressive Egyptian-style monument to the base that can be seen today. The remains of the tower are at the highest point in the park, and indeed the whole of the Clwydian Range, at 554 m (1818 ft).

The tower was designed by Thomas Harrison of Chester. It was to be an Egyptian styled obelisk, built in three stages. The foundation stone was laid in 1810 by George Kenyon, 2nd Baron Kenyon, but the tower was never completed. A storm in 1862 blew the incomplete tower down, and to make it safe, the tower was then demolished, apart from the unsheltered base. The large rubble was removed from the site, and the smaller rocks taken by farmers for local dry stone walls.

The Jubilee Tower is located at OS Grid reference SJ161626, at the heart of the Moel Famau country park.