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

1.0 Introduction
The <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> uplands archaeology survey area centres on one of the highest peaks
of southern Snowdonia, to the west of Llyn Tegid and south-west of Llyn Celyn, in the
communities of Llanycil and Llanuwchllyn (fig 1). The combined survey area was
approximately 32.5 square kilometres.
The landscape is dramatic, characterised by a large natural lake and its craggy
precipitous slopes, the steepest of which were excluded from the survey area. It is
principally a moorland landscape of heather, bracken and grass on the slopes of <strong>Arenig</strong>
<strong>Fawr</strong>, Mynydd Nodol and Moel Llyfnant, the summits of which are 854m AOD, 539m
AOD and 751m AOD respectively. Llyn <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> is a natural lake on the sheltered
east side of the <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> ridge. The geology of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong>, which is directly
relevant to extractive industries, comprises volcanic rocks, mainly in the form of ashes
and agglomerates derived from lava flows, overlain in places by Ordovician shales.
Igneous intrusions, in the form of granite, are found on the north side of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong>.
A large proportion of the survey area is common land belonging to the Crown Estates,
but has been fenced into large sheepwalks by the commoners. Those areas in private
ownership are of similar moorland character but, except for the steep ground on the
west flank of <strong>Arenig</strong> <strong>Fawr</strong> and the moorland north-west of Moel Llyfnant, are enclosed
with drystone walls. A detached area of common land on the north-west side of Bala,
known as Gwastadros, has the same moorland vegetation, with frequent boggy areas,
but is lower, rising only to 360m AOD, and is not enclosed.
With the exception of Gwastadros, the survey area is a Site of Special Scientific
Interest, and falls within the Migneint-<strong>Arenig</strong>-Dduallt Special Protection Area for its
ornithological interest, and is a Special Area of Conservation on account of its
important habitat types (blanket bog, dry heath, peat-stained lakes and pools). The
whole of the survey area is within Snowdonia National Park and the majority is
designated as Access Land.
The field survey was undertaken between May and October 2010 by Richard Hayman
and Wendy Horton, with grant in aid from RCAHM Wales under the Uplands
Archaeology Initiative.
2.0 Methodology
The project aimed to identify and record the resource through rapid, systematic field
survey. Archaeological remains of all periods were considered equally. RCAHM Wales
undertook aerial photograph mapping of the area, which was consulted through the
fieldwork phase. The regional Historic Environment Record was consulted prior to the
fieldwork, which yielded records of 26 archaeological sites) and RCAHM Wales
provided digital copies of the county series Ordnance Survey maps at 6-inch and 25-
inch scales. Tithe surveys were also consulted, but a search did not discover any useful
estate maps covering the area that have not previously been discussed.
The area was divided into transects 30m apart, except in areas where archaeological
sites were sparse. These were divided into 50m transects. The location (NGR) of each
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