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The other-worldly Welsh walking spot you've probably never heard of

The spoil heaps from the former limestone quarry of the Llangattock Escarpment - © Joe Daniel Price
The spoil heaps from the former limestone quarry of the Llangattock Escarpment - © Joe Daniel Price

The weather closes in as we pull into the car park. Had we known exactly where we were going we would have caught the last dry hour of the day, but instructions on how to find the Llangattock Escarpment are somewhat scarce.

One of the few pieces of information we had to go on was an old Countryfile article from 2014, which provided little in the way of direction, nor did it betray quite what a remarkable site we were to find in this south-east corner of the Brecon Beacons.

The Escarpment itself is as the word is defined, a long cliff-edged plateau that runs a few hundred metres above the valley of the River Usk, while its caves are sold by some as its main draw - vast caverns that make up some of Britain’s longest underground systems. Both its hilltop and what lies beneath are keenly explored by locals.

But it was the old spoil heaps from the former limestone quarry here that most captivated us. The lumps and mounds tread a fine line between man-made and natural. Neatly arranged but entirely covered in vegetation, they create an other-worldly landscape one might more expect to find in a place like Iceland, were it more verdant.

These hills, the exploration of which feels somewhat like traipsing a scaled down version of the Alps or the Andes, are the product of a century of limestone quarrying in Llangattock

The quarry shut more than 100 years ago - Credit: Getty
The quarry shut more than 100 years ago Credit: Getty

Established around 1790, the quarry remained open until the early 20th century, cutting deeper into the hillside decade after decade, leaving few natural cliffs and its waste in its wake. A neat path that once housed the quarry’s horse-drawn transport system criss-crosses the site.

“The surreal ridges of spoil are now covered with grassess and limestone herbs that have appeared naturally,” Kevin Walker, who runs Mountain Activities, a hill-walking company in the Brecon Beacons.

“The old tramway is an amazing feat of engineering, built in the mid-19th century to connect the quarries to the Nant-y-Glo ironworks. The quarried limestone was needed as a flux in the iron forges.”

The heaps are covered in grass and limestone herbs - Credit: Getty
The heaps are covered in grass and limestone herbs Credit: Getty

Walker says there were two inclines that led down from the quarry into the valley to the limekilns at Llangattock Wharf, where lime was last burned in 1920, by which time most of the quarries were deserted.

He suggests that though the area is marketed locally it is perhaps not highlighted nationally as a large portion is registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and contains the Craig y Cilau National Nature Reserve, home to a number of rare plants, including the Lesser Whitebream, which grows only in this area.

Walker says the best way to explore is on foot and that there is easy access along the tramway. The cliff top offers views across the Usk Valley and Black Mountains.

We returned to the car through very visible waves of soaking, incessant rain that gave the heaped landscape an atmosphere part Industrial Revolution and part post apocalypse. On a little-known, off-chance detour we had stumbled upon a fascinating insight into the Valleys’ industrial past, and a sight the kind of which you would struggle to find anywhere else in the world.