Carn Gafallt is of special interest for its
upland dry heath and broad-leaved woodland. The woodland supports
an exceptional variety of mosses, liverworts and lichens (including
several that are nationally scarce); it is also important for
woodland breeding birds and an outstanding variety of insects and
molluscs, including a number of rare and scarce species associated
with dead wood.
Managing this site
A large part of the site is registered as common land and is
owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The rest of
the site is under private ownership. The special features of this
SSSI and CCW’s views about site management have been summarised in
a Site Management Statement, addressed to the owners and managers
of the land. The statement can be found in the resource section
below.
Access information
The majority of the site is designated as CROW open access land
and parts of the site are crossed by public footpaths and
bridleways. For detailed maps and information regarding access
visit our access map via the resource section below.
Other information
This site forms part of the Coetiroedd Cwm Elan/ Elan Valley
Woodlands Special Area of Conservation and part of Elenydd-Mallaen
Special Protection Area. Carn Gafallt means ‘cairn of Gafallt’. The
9 cent. historian, Nennius, in his Historia Brittonum (History of
the Britons) describes a ‘wonder’ in Buellt, namely a mound of
stones with one stone bearing the footprint of Cafall, Arthur’s
hound, imprinted whilst pursuing the wild boar Troynt (y Twrch
Trwyth) in these parts and described in the medieval tale Culhwch
and Olwen. People used to come by, adds Nennius, and carry the
imprinted stone away in their hands a day and a night’s journey,
but by the following morning the stone would be found back in its
proper place. The heap was called Carn Cafall and it was Arthur
himself, according to tradition, who made the heap and set on its
top the stone marked with his dog’s footprint.