Plynlimon (central) - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

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Uplands Initiative - Nant y Moch & Pumlimon Fawr / <strong>Plynlimon</strong> 2004‗Eisteddfa Gurig‘ or ‗Seat of the rock‘ is a small settlement at the <strong>central</strong> southern point of the surveyarea, at the edge of the Afon Castell, at a height of approx. 250m O.D. The area of this settlement isoccupied presently by a modern farmstead. North of here is a long valley cut by the ‗Afon Tarenig‘. Thisrough scrub and heath landscape is occupied predominantly by the abandoned ruins of the 19 th century<strong>Plynlimon</strong> Lead Mine. To the west is the east-facing slope of Drum Peithnant and to the east is the longridge known as ‗Crib yr Esgair‘ or ‗Crest of the Ridge‘. This valley terminates to the north with a steepslope that rises up toward both ‗Pen Lluest-y-carn‘ or ‗Head of the camp/cabin of the cairn‘, and<strong>Plynlimon</strong> Fawr. South-west of Eisteddfa Gurig this area extends across the bare hillside known as ‗FoelWyddon‘, and further still onwards towards the ‗Dyffryn Castell‘ hotel.Area 12. Craig y March‗Craig y March‘ or ‗Rock of the Horse‘ is a rocky topographic feature at the northernmost point of thesurvey area, immediately west of the area known as ‗Pen Pumlimon Arwystli‘, which reaches a maximumheight of approx. 730m O.D. Craig y March is the end of a steep sided narrow valley called ‗CwmGwerin‘ that runs north-south then curves west and joins with the ‗Afon Hengwm‘. Both the northern andsouthern slopes of this valley are covered extensively in rocky crags. The far south-eastern end of thevalley bottom is inaccessible from the upper reaches of <strong>Plynlimon</strong> Fawr and is only accessible from thewest. The base of the valley is covered extensively in tall grass and reeds. The north-west end of this areais occupied by a deserted rural farmstead known as ‗Lluest Fach Hengwm‘.Area 13. Llechwedd Hirgoed‗Llechwedd Hirgoed‘ or ‗Hillside of the long wood‘ is the area at the far south-east of the survey area thatstretches from ‗Eisteddfa Gurig‘ to ‗Pont Rhydgaled‘. This area is within the old county ofMontgomeryshire and occupied by the ‗Sweet Lamb Motor Rally Complex‘. The south facing slope ofthis long hill reaches down to the main A44 Llangurig road and the Afon Castell. The north facing slope iscut intermittently by a series of streams that run down and meet up with the Afon Cyff. The highest pointof this hillside is approx. 536m O.D. Presently there is no woodland along the slopes of this hill apartfrom a few narrow forestry strips at the fareast end. The tupper reaches of Llechwedd Hirgoed arecharacterised by occasional pockets of natural ponding and areas of peat, this is especially true at the farwest end in the area known as ‗Cripiau Eisteddfa-fach‘.Area 14. Esgair y Maen‗Esgair y Maen‘ or ‗Slope of the Mine‘ marks the <strong>central</strong> area immediately east of Pumlimon Fawr. Thisarea is within the old county of Montgomeryshire and owned and occupied by the ‗Sweet Lamb MotorRally Complex‘. Topographically this area is characterised by undulating peat covered slopes,predominantly at the west end, and tall grass covered plains in the areas of the Afon Cyff. At the far northof this area is the source of the River Wye, immediately north of ‗Pen Lluest-y-carn‘. This area is partlycut by a north-south running trackway that eventually curves around decending down into the main coreof the ‗Sweet Lamb Motor Rally Complex‘. This area is punctuated occasionally by the activities offormer lead mining.Area 15. Bryn DaithThe landscape surrounding the area known as ‗Bryn Daith‘ is dominated by the remains of extensive leadmining activity in the form of the former ‗Nant y Iago‘ and ‗Nant y Eira‘ lead mines. Both of these leadmine complexes are located along the banks of the north-south running water course of the Nant Iago.This area is cut from all directions by forestry access tracks as well as those laid out by the Sweet LambMotor Rally Complex. The landscape surrounding the remains of these lead mines varies from a peatcovered landscape to an enclosed landscape, particularly in and around the main core of the RallyComplex. The eastern end of this area is a landscape that may be characterised as a bog and peat coveredenvironment.Area 16. Y Foel15CAP Report No: 355
Uplands Initiative - Nant y Moch & Pumlimon Fawr / <strong>Plynlimon</strong> 2004‗Y Foel‘ or ‗The Bare topped hill‘ is a high steep sided bare hill that reaches a height of approx. 546mO.D. The curtained west facing slope is almost vertical and as such is always in the dark. At its westernbase is a small stream that runs southwards eventually reaching up with the Afon Castell to the south. Thishigh hill dwarfs a smaller hill to the west known as ‗Y Drum‘ or ‗The Ridge‘ and shades the <strong>central</strong> coreof the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex‘. In the shadow of ‗Y Foel‘ and at the southern base of Y Drum is thedeserted rural farmstead of ‗Cefn-brwyn‘Geology(see Fig 3)The exposed solid geology of the study area is predominantly that of Ordovician Ashgill with alithological ornament of ‗Greywacke‘ atop <strong>Plynlimon</strong> and its low lying rock outcrops. To the east of<strong>Plynlimon</strong> in the region of the village of Ponterwyd and over towards the Powys region, the geology ispredominantly of the Silurian Llandovery Series, of Telychain, Rhuddanian and Aeronian types. A seriesof surface fault lines, generally of lead, run east-west and north-north-east to south-south-west across thewhole of the study area(Ordnance Survey Geological Map of Great Britain, 3 rd series, 1979, 1:25,000).In terms of localised geological forms, there exist bands or veins of ferric white quartzite in the areas ofCraig y March and Cwm Gwerin (Area 12), particularly along its north and south facing slopes. Exposedveins of ferric white quartz are also visible in areas along the top platform areas to the east of PumlimonFawr (Area 9). A further surface exposed seam is in the area near Maesnant (Area 8).As demonstrated by the extensive lead mining activity in the survey area, fault lines containing lead orecover much of the area. These faults run across the hill known as Drosgol (Area 1), through the formerNant y Moch valley and through the northern areas of Pumlimon Fawr (Areas 2, & 9). In the Powysregion, these fault lines run through Bryn Daith, Esgair y Maen and Llechwedd Hirgoed (Areas 15, 16 and13). In the areas of the former Nant y Iago Lead Mine, seams of galena and white/grey calcite are alsoevident, particularly at the surface where they have been heavily extracted along with lead ore.The east and west base of Pumlimon Fawr is heavily peat covered, with some areas having peat as deep as3.5m. This is particularly evidenced by the landscape just east of ‗Pen Lluest-y-carn‘, where much of thepeat has been dug away or else has eroded and left areas of peat bog. This particular depth however isextreme, on average the depth of the peat around the <strong>Plynlimon</strong> varies from between 1m –2m in depth.Having said this however, this depth has only been ascertained from areas where the ground surface peathas slipped downslope, having created open-pockets of exposed peat cross sections, which give theimpression of former peat cutting. As such the average depth of the peat surrounding <strong>Plynlimon</strong> may bemuch greater.5. ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDIn summary, parts of the survey area have in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s undergone a certain amount offocused archaeological research, by both the RCAHMW, the Dyfed Archaeological Trust (DAT) and theClwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT). In the 1960s the RCAHMW under the auspices of A.H.AHogg concentrated primarily on bronze Age burial cairns in the area of the Nant y Moch prior to theflooding of the valley in 1962/63. These cairns and further sites and features along the banks of the Nant yMoch Reservoir were investigated further, some with excavation, in the late 1970s and early 1980s by theRCAHMW when the water levels were low. Former small surveys by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust(DAT) have focused on identifying deserted rural settlements around the area of <strong>Plynlimon</strong> as part ofCadw‘s DRS project.The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) however have carried out an extensive study of oldmetal mines within the region to the east in 1994. A further small evaluation survey was undertaken in the1991 around the hill of ‗Y Foel‘as part of a preliminary investigation into a proposed windfarm.Other than these small investigative studies however, no systematic aerial mapping project nor rapid fieldsurvey has been performed using the prescribed Uplands Initiative methodology.15CAP Report No: 355
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APPENDIX 1: SITE ILLUSTRATIONSUplan
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Plynlimon (central) - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

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