There are five separate sites - Forgotten Sun area, Upper Cave, KO Wall, Golf Ball Wall and the Tower. All of the climbing lies within the Gwrych Castle & Llanddulas SSSI. The area is especially noted for its assemblage of the Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) and there have been concerns by CCW that climbing has negatively impacted on some of the plants. It is imperative that no more route cleaning or new routing occurs without consultation with CCW if serious access restrictions are to be avoided here.
Access update
As people may have seen for other threads and on social media, there have been rumours cicrulating of changes to land ownership and possible access issues here. BMC have investigated and the landownership situation is complicated. The bulk of the area, including the actual cliff faces appears to be under the ownership of Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, who state that they have not ever given permisson for any public access to their land. Some of this land is also under a historic lease to Natural Resources Wales but its unclear if that lease permits them to manage or allow public access. BMC understands that there are ongoing discussions between NRW and Gwrych Castle Trust regarding this lease. The land directly below (literally up to the base of the rockfaces) of the Forgotten Sun to Main Cave area now appears to be owned by Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust. BMC have been in contact with the trust and are seeking to negotiate clearer access.
The land bordering the cliffs is on open access land but again it does not seem that the actual rockfaces are within that area. The whole area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it's vital that whatever the status of access might be, that recreational users do not damage the flora or any other special interests of this site - including no vegetation removal, no modification of rockfaces or disturbing nesting birds or roosing bats in the caves.
The local community have used this area for general walking and recreation, unopposed and without hinderance, for many years and there is a local campaign underway to try to pursue a claim for public rights of way over parts of this land.
In the meantime, if people do encounter any access issues then please contact the BMC and we are still in discussions with all the relevant parties to do what we can to protect access to this venue.
Parking Update
There have been a number of complaints from local residents regarding climbers parking and creating obstructions to local residents along Ffordd Newydd/New Road; climbers are advised especially to not park close to or opposite any drives or gateways.
If there are already several cars here, there's plenty of alternative parking: either at the car park near the beach gained via Beach House Road opposite Rhyd-y-foel Road (near the excellent Tides Cafe LL22 8HA) or on Beulah Avenue gained by turning right at the village hall on the outskirts of the village, just past the Valentines Pub.