A length of tramroad formation remains in the Great Forest of Brecknock, as part of the Cribarth Tramroad which linked to the Swansea Canal (nprn 34376). The tramroad was probably built by John Christie some time in the mid 1820s, at the same time as his Brecon Forest Tramroad (nprn 406399), in order to exploit the rotten-stone deposits to the north of the Cribarth, but it was never completed. From south to north, it takes the form first of an unfinished cutting on either side of the Great Forest boundary wall (at SN 8301 1502), the north end of which is bisected by later rotten-stone quarry pits and spoil. No formation is visible for about 160m until (at SN 8294 1516) the line is carried over boggy ground by means of a ditched causeway 1.8m wide at the top for a distance of about 15m. For most of the rest of its course it takes the form of a boulder terrace 2-3m wide skirting a cliff and continues thus above the main rotten-stone mining area before entering a shallow cutting 1.5m wide and 0.6m deep (at SN 8304 1540). The line then disappears into the mining area itself at a point about 150m south of the boundary wall. Beyond the wall (at SN 8312 1572) the intermittent course of the tramroad is again visible for some 100m and its termination is marked by a deposit of unused sleeper blocks. Examples of these are to be found strewn along the entire tramroad formation.
RCAHMW, 18 February 2009.