Twmpa

Twmpa/Lord Hereford's Knob
Highest point
Elevation 690 m (2,260 ft)
Prominence 79 m (259 ft)
Parent peak Waun Fach
Listing Hewitt, Nuttall
Geography
Location Powys, Wales
Parent range Black Mountains
OS grid SO224350
Topo map OS Landranger 161

Twmpa or Lord Hereford's Knob is a mountain in south-east Wales, forming a part of the great northwest scarp of the Black Mountains. It lies 3 km west of the border with England, and around 7 km south of Hay-on-Wye. To the northeast lies the Gospel Pass through which runs a minor road between Hay and the Llanthony Valley. A ridge known as Darren Lwyd tapers away for about 3 km to the southeast of the summit.

Geology

In common with neighbouring hills, Twmpa is composed of alternate layers of sandstone and mudstone dating from the Devonian period and ascribed to the Lower Old Red Sandstone. Its lower slopes are formed from the mudstone-dominated St Maughans Formation whilst the upper part of the hill is composed of sandstone-dominated Senni Formation rocks. At the junction between the two is a prominent calcrete known as the Ffynnon Limestone.

Numerous landslips have occurred within the St Maughans Formation around the flanks of the hill.[1]

Access

The entire hill is classed as open country under the CRoW Act and is therefore available for walkers to roam freely across. It is almost encircled by public bridleways and restricted byways. The most well-used track is that running west from Gospel Pass (where car parking is available), over its summit and then southwest towards Rhos Dirion. A further track runs the length of the ridge southeastwards to the hamlet of Capel-y-ffin.[2]

Lord Hereford's Knob was the subject of a satirical folk rock song of the same name by post-punk band Half Man Half Biscuit. It features on their 2008 album CSI:Ambleside.[3] The mountain also appears in the poem Wales Visitation by Allen Ginsberg, written under the influence of LSD during a visit to the cottage of his publisher Tom Maschler in the summer of 1967.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ British Geological Survey 1:50K scale geological map sheet 214 Talgarth
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey 1:25K Explorer map sheet OL13 Brecon Beacons National Park eastern area
  3. ↑ Half Man Half Biscuit, CSI:Ambleside (Probe Plus, 2008).
  4. ↑ Wales Visitation - Poem by Allen Ginsberg poemhunter.com
  5. ↑ Roberts, Andy. (15 September, 2016) No Imperfection in the Budded Mountain: Allen Ginsberg and the writing of Wales Visitation Psychedelic Press UK

Coordinates: 52°00′29″N 3°07′48″W / 52.00806°N 3.13000°W / 52.00806; -3.13000


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