Sirhowy Hill Woodlands CIC

Est. in 2015 as a constituted group, now a community interest company, run by unpaid volunteers.

Sirhowy Hill Woodlands was once an Ancient Woodland, thriving with a wealth of fauna and flora and home to a vast community of wildlife species.

The woodland and surrounding areas that make up Sirhowy Valley cover about 85 hectares (“210 acres”) of land. The sites lies within the South Wales coalfield at an altitude of between about 320m above ordnance datum to the south, rising to about 395m above ordnance datum at the highest point near the centre of the site. The solid geology is dominated by the Westphalian Coal Measures which are overlain by Upper Carboniferous sandstones, the latter of which are locally exposed at the surface throughout the southern part of the site.

Prior to the industrial revolution the land was dotted with small farms, orchards and woodlands.