ABSTRACT
The third upland case study is in the heart of mid-Wales, in the Radnorshire Hills to the west of the Wye Valley. It lies in the parish of Llansantffraed Cwmdeuddwr, a territory of considerable antiquity, taking its name from Cwmdeuddwr, ‘the commote between the two waters’ (the Rivers Elan and Wye). The bulk of the parish consists of unenclosed hills, which, being contiguous to other hill commons, form part of the ‘green desert’ of the heart of Wales, or, in the more prosaic language of local shepherds, ‘miles and miles of bugger all’ (Howells, 2005, p6). The land forms a rolling plateau at circa 500m above sea level, cut by the narrow, steep-sided valleys of the Rivers Elan, Claerwen and Wye, in which almost all the farmsteads and inbye land are found. Since at least the 18th century it has been sheep country. The common land within the bounds of the parish comprises two contiguous blocks, the registered common land of Cwmdeuddwr Common (RCL 36) and a larger area of deregistered hill grazing (RCL 66), within the catchment of the Claerwen and Elan rivers, which forms part of Welsh Water's Elan Valley Estate. It is an area of particular environmental value, containing a number of important environmental designations, including three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), a Special Protection Area (SPA) and two Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) (see Figure 8.1). It lies in the Cambrian Mountains Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA), and a central focus for modern land management is an ESA management agreement for Cwmdeuddwr Common concluded in 2001. Elan Valley: Boundary of case study area and environmental designations https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781849775632/35edd366-72d9-44f2-bf40-58494a0d7d47/content/fig8_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Source: www.ccw.gov.uk/landscape–wildlife/protecting-our-landscape/protected-sites-map.aspx
