On Saturday, July 27 a series of events in Llandrindod officially launched the Heart of Wales Geopark.

The geopark is a celebration of extraordinary geological heritage and its influence on biodiversity, history and culture.

The geopark covers the area between Builth, Llandrindod and Llandegley, known worldwide in geological circles as the Builth–Llandrindod Inlier: an ancient volcanic island complex from 460 million years ago, with extremely rich fossil deposits. The project was started following the discovery of the fossil deposit known as the Castle Bank Biota last year near Llandrindod, and builds on the extraordinarily rich geological heritage in the area. The region is especially famous for trilobites, but has also been important in many other areas of geology.

The geopark was launched at the Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod. The afternoon was hosted by geopark trustee and local councillor Pete Roberts, with speeches from Lady Kathryn Silk (High Sheriff of Powys), Dr Caroline Buttler (Head of Collections Development at Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales), and Dr Joseph Botting (Chair of the Heart of Wales Geopark CIO). Around 100 people attended the official opening, including the Mayor of Llandrindod, local community and county councillors, and visitors from around Wales and the Borders. The Mid Wales Geology Club, the Open University Geological Society (Severnside Branch), the Radnorshire Society, Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, and the Spa Town Trust provided informational stalls. In the morning, fossil handling activities were provided at the Radnorshire Museum, and guided walks were led around Llandrindod Lake and through Rock Park.

This event is only the first stage of the development of the geopark.

Dr Botting explains: “It's taken us a year to get the charity set up and the basics in place, so now we can really get to work. We're extremely excited to have reached this point, with our first leaflets printed (a Llandrindod town trail) and the website up and running, and are looking forward to generating a lot more content over the coming years. In particular, we're working with a few local organisations and landowners to start rolling out some events over the summer.

“In future we would love to get in touch with more people who would like to be involved, especially by making their sites accessible to locals and visitors, so we can all explore this wonderful area.”

The geopark is unusual in being a major active area of research as well as being about the heritage of historically important sites, and new discoveries are being made on a regular basis. Part of the remit of the geopark charity is to bridge the gap between research and the public, publicising new discoveries and deepening public appreciation of the geology and everything that depends on it.

Dr Lucy Muir, one of the trustees, explains: “The event was supported by wonderful displays from a range of local nature, archaeology, heritage and geology organisations, and we hope to be working with all of these groups in future. The geopark is going to be very much a collaborative project, where all these organisations can benefit each other to build understanding of this amazing heritage.”

You can find out more about the geopark and its activities at http://heartofwalesgeopark.org.uk, by following their Facebook page (where there is a recording of the opening speeches), or by signing up to the mailing list by writing to [email protected].