Arenig Fawr, Merioneth - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Figure 3: Moel yr Eglwys cairn (nprn 43852) Figure 4: cairnfield near Amnodd Wen (nprn 511405) Figure 5: Roman road on Ffridd Uchaf (nprn 511140) 7
3.1 Prehistoric sites There were very few prehistoric sites. A large cairn on the summit of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> has been considerably mutilated, and the cairn material has spread beyond its original circumference (nprn 43852) (fig 3). It was built on the highest point of the ridge of hills, and has a near panoramic view of surrounding lowlands, blocked only on the southwest side. Summit cairns are common in <strong>Merioneth</strong>shire and it has been suggested that they were reserved for high-status burials, on sites chosen because they are conspicuous from a distance (Smith 2003, 115-16). The cairn has a drystone shelter built on to its summit, as well as a memorial to an air crew that crashed on the mountain in 1944, and a modern concrete triangulation pillar. Its names, Eglwys Glominog and Moel yr Eglwys, are not readily explicable. A tradition that a hermit’s cell was built on the summit of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> was current in the early modern period, and was well known enough for an engraving of it to appear in a posthumous edition of William Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum (1776), although it is almost certain that Stukeley never visited the site (RCAHMW 1921, 147). Such stories may have derived from the presence of stone shelters on the summit, one of which may have been misinterpreted as the ruins of a chapel. The ‘chapel’ has remained part of the local folklore. There is a cairn at Cefn Coch (nprn 303153), a summit cairn on a low ridge below Moel Ymenyn, which is also much mutilated and diminished. It is 700m north of a track which crosses the central highlands of <strong>Merioneth</strong>, giving access to the coast (nprn 511404). The track has been interpreted as prehistoric on the basis that there are standing stones further west along the route, and consequently that the track was a determining factor in the site of the cairn (Bowen and Gresham 1967, 83, 60). The summit of Moel Ymenyn does not, however, have a Bronze Age cairn of its own. A cairn on Moel y Garnedd, Gwastadros, was identified in the early twentieth century as constituting only a few remains (RCAHMW 1921, 145). There is no longer any visible structure on the surface, and therefore the cairn is a doubtful one, its existence perhaps suggested by the place name. However, following a survey of prehistoric funerary and ritual sites in <strong>Merioneth</strong> the site is still considered to be a cairn in the Historic Environment Records (HER) for Gwynedd. A field visit in 2000 identified an arc of turf-covered stone that might constitute the kerb, which would give a diameter of approximately 11m, but the present authors thought that it was a natural occurrence. The site is also now occupied by a modern triangulation pillar, constructed of stone quarried from nearby (and clearly not stone robbed from a cairn as has previously been suggested). It is on the summit of the hill, which is the highest point of Gwastadros, and offers panoramic views, and a vista to Llyn Tegid. Other possible cairns, or barrows, have been rejected, such as a mound on Pistyll Gwyn that appears to a natural conical mound (nprn 511413). A stone circle recorded in the HER on the lower, north-east slopes of Moel Llyfnant, was not found. Hitherto unrecorded cairns were found half-buried in peat, but with no evidence to suggest that they are prehistoric (nprn 510727, 510835). They may be clearance cairns, which are found occasionally on the upland, including a small cairnfield of twelve cairns above Amnodd Wen (nprn 511405) (fig 4). The small cairns were found on sloping ground bordered by level ground to the west and east and may have been part of a larger cairnfield that has been obscured by peat 8
Page 1 and 2: The Uplands Archaeology Initiative
Page 3 and 4: Summary The Arenig
Page 5 and 6: Figure 7 long hut above Filltir-ger
Page 7 and 8: site was established by a hand-held
Page 9 and 10: 4 Figure 1: location plan
Page 11: Figure 2: map of principal place na
Page 15 and 16: the area of common mountain pasture
Page 17 and 18: Arenig Faw
Page 19 and 20: Figure 11: Multi-cell sheepfold abo
Page 21 and 22: 511055, 511059) had been abandoned.
Page 23 and 24: although it may have developed from
Page 25 and 26: Figure 15: Peat cutting on Mynydd N
Page 27 and 28: the Crown land in Llanycil parish o
Page 29 and 30: 3.5 Recreation Few sites can be att
Page 31 and 32: exploited from high ground and tran
Page 33 and 34: 510914 Sheepfold 510915 Sheepfold 5
Page 35: Kay, George, 1794, General View of
Page 43 and 44: BANC YR ARIAN, BANK AND DITCH II 51
Page 45 and 46: MYNYDD NODOL, PROSPECTING TRENCH VI
Page 47 and 48: MYNYDD NODOL, OPENCAST TRENCH XXVI
Page 49 and 50: PONT ABER-DERFEL, BRIDGE 510689 SH8
Page 51 and 52: BWLCH BLAEN-Y-PANT, PEAT CUTTING XI
Page 53 and 54: ARENIG FAWR EAST, SHELTER I 510827
Page 55 and 56: PISTYLL GWYN, PIT III 510891 SH8415
Page 57 and 58: FILLTIR-GERIG, FOLD III 510966 SH82
Page 59 and 60: BALA-FFESTINIOG RAILWAY, BRIDGE SE
Page 61 and 62: MOEL LLYFNANT, WALL II 511106 SH811
Page 63 and 64:
LLYN ARENIG FAWR, SHEEPFOLD III 511
Page 65 and 66:
FFRIDD Y COED, HUT 511251 SH8386839
Page 67 and 68:
PANT-Y-CELYN, MARKER CAIRN 511316 S
Page 69 and 70:
GWASTADROS, TREE MOUND III 511378 S
Page 71 and 72:
AMNODD BWLL, DRAINAGE DITCHES I 511
show all

Arenig Fawr, Merioneth - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?