Abandoned Landscapes - From the Coast to the Tanat Valley
Submitted by TimPrevett on Tuesday, 12 December 2006 Page Views: 10098
Multi-periodCountry: Wales
27-9 Dec. 2001.
From Llanbedr across country to the standing stones
I peered through the field gate towards the pair of standing stones on the far side of a rather muddy field behind the garage. 'Do these monuments really mark the start of perhaps the finest ancient routeway in Britain?' I wondered. A four and a half hour bus-hopping journey had brought me to this point on the outskirts of the little coastal village of Llanbedr, with the intention of following the traditional route from the coast to the Tanat valley. The description of the route given by Bowen and Gresham was irresistible; from this standing stone it apparently crossed the Rhinogau along a trackway lined with a famous series of prehistoric ceremonial monuments, and then entered 'that vast, deserted region of moorland and peatbogs which stretches south from the Migneint to Rhobell Fawr', and from Bala across the lonely Hirnants to the head of the Tanat valley at Llandygnog (1967, 60, and see also Watson 1965, Frontispiece) [note 1].
Nowadays the standing stones are almost a mile from the sea but there has been considerable silting of the Afon Artro (which they stand close to) and they were probably sited near a significant landing place (also, the river crossing itself may have been the important feature) (site 1, 583270). From here its about 3 miles north east to the first of the clear marker monuments on the routeway. Several possible ways of reaching it present themselves, and perhaps such was the case in prehistory. You can continue up the coastal belt past Llanfair to join the start of the steep hill road, or forge a route linking two intermediately-placed standing stones. I chose to piece together a more or less direct course through the magical and ancient land around the Gwern Einion Neolithic tomb.
Picking my way back and forth along footpaths beside a tumbling tributary of the Afon Artro I joined a single-track road where the ground tips steeply upwards for a couple of hundred feet past grey stony outcrops, bracken and marsh, with the rushing stream never far away. Soon the level eases onto an undulating shelf of irregular sheep walk. On the crest to the left, just before the farm of Gwern Einion is a rugged field with several prominent natural stone-topped mounds, their location and appearance like a miniature version of the megalithic cemetery of Loughcrew in Ireland (McMann 2000). Knowing I was in the vicinity of the tomb I cast around for it in this field and then the next. Finding nothing I went further over to some abandoned 19th century farm buildings 100 yards ahead across rising ground, and there, built into the wall of its small stock enclosure, were the massive and unmistakable megaliths of the burial chamber (site 2, 587286, Bowen and Gresham 1967, 15-17). From here I could still see the stone piles in the nearby field; perhaps it was these features which attracted the tomb-builders. An extensive panorama is visible from this position: Ahead is the coastal strand with its white line of breakers, and the distant land mass of the Llyn peninsula. Behind, the clouds were ridged across the sky, and the high hills whence I was headed were blotted by gathering mist. The rumble from the railway line and the road along the coast seeped softly up from the low ground.
Returning to the road I followed the stream to where it issued from a large wetland area of stringy grassy tussocks, birch, willow and rowan, with the steep high ground of Clogwyn Arllef forming an impressive backcloth to the scene. Although the exact find-spot is not recorded, somewhere here - possibly at the foot of the crags - a Bronze Age circular bronze shield was found set vertically in the peat moss. This is a perfect (and typical) place for ceremonial deposition, and it is likely there are other objects here (site 3, c.592284, Bowen and Gresham 1967, 124-5). Between the road and the marsh is a small standing boulder, probably naturally-sited, and not far away, perched at the edge of the mire, are two large natural fairly angular stones. Taken as a whole, this vicinity has the character of a special place - the natural stone mounds, the Neolithic tomb, the wetland from which the stream arises, and the planting of the shield. Although there is no direct evidence for it, the passage of a routeway (possibly with a ceremonial or sacred dimension) would fit well in this context.
The hill road continues beside the bog past the large, gloomy dilapidated farm of Gwern Einion; its environs are dominated by two crumbling concrete silos and decorated with abandoned cars and vans. For the next mile the road, a forgotten by-way of decomposing bitumen, strikes almost due north on a natural line contouring the terrain; through gates and past occasional farms. Perhaps this was what many minor country roads were like in the early days of the motor car. On either side are tumbling drystone walls, scrappy wooded slopes, small outcrops buttressed by scree, and gorse with wilting yellow blossoms. A group of small stony mounds are passed on the left - possibly field clearance cairns - and 100 yards beyond on a slight boulder-strewn rise beside the track are the foundations of a circular thick-walled prehistoric house about 15m across. Some of the boulders around it may have been dislodged from other structures or enclosure walls, but nevertheless the knees and shins of the occupants must have been permanently cut and bruised from tripping over the many rocks outside their house (site 4, 594296).
Past the standing stones to the Goedog cairn circles and a night on the open moor
In the thickening drizzle I reached the hill road from the coast at Llanfair and located the first large stone in the conspicuous procession which lines its course as it climbs onto the moors (599300, Lynch 1995, 47-53).. The sun was setting in murky golden ribbons over the coast, and turning my back on it I walked uphill into the evening mist. At the prow of the hill I found the king-stone of the group - 10 ft high and set to the left of the road. There was no indication of a worn path on the undulating turf to either side of the road along all this stretch. After a few hundred yards the ancient route diverges from the road onto the open ground. There is another stone at this point, this one only about three feet high, with two more further on. The mist got thicker and light drained away, reducing my world to a short tunnel of track unfolding with each step. Two lines of route were visible, one levelled into the slope (possibly the engineered coach road), the other forming an uneven hollow, perhaps an earlier line worn by the hooves of many animals.
Passing along the side of Moel Goedog I reached one of the most enigmatic sites in Wales, a pair of Bronze Age ring cairns, (although stumbling around in the mist and dark I could only find one) (site 5, 610324). Frances Lynch has pointed out that they stand at the end of this sequence of monuments, one on each side of the track, the upper displaying itself when approaching up the track and the lower one prominent only to someone descending. Thus not only do we have a clear relationship with the track at this point but also the monuments appear to be signifying the boundary of a special zone or territory, where the actions of both entering or leaving are ritually-charged. The lower one was excavated and restored in 1979 after the farmer's contractor ploughed it up. Many pits were found within the circle containing charcoal or token burials, a food vessel (which unusually had been repaired) and a collared urn. Its usage was dated to 1700-1400 BC (Lynch 1984; 1995 48-9; Crew and Musson 1996, 9) [note 2].
I don't know how much further along the route I walked that dark evening, through gathering wind and squalls; it seemed like miles but was probably much less. A provident stream trickling across the path let me gather its essence for the night, and I carried on until I could no longer be sure of the way. Camping beside a sheltering wall, I could see the lights of Porthmadoc glowing feebly through the mist across the estuary. The only station I could get on my little radio was Gaelic music and song drifting through the ether from across the Irish Sea, reminding me how closely connected these lands used to be. I listened spellbound to the compelling melodies and the strange and ancient language and drifted into sleep whilst the rain fell and the wind blew all through the long winter night.
The most beautiful Bronze Age monument in Britain
Next morning brought faint views across to a snow-covered Eyrie. Crows screeched and wheeled overhead as the track wound inexorably into the heart of the Rhinogau, towards the dark broken mass of Moel Ysgyfarnogod over bleak rocky moorland. After half a mile the route enters the next monument domain - a wide shallow valley which forms the atrium to the startlingly evocative cairn circle of Bryn Cader Faner, awaiting the traveller out of sight at the far end. It was with anticipation and a growing sense of awe that I entered this unspoilt, bleak place, its soul still belonging to the people of the Bronze Age who placed their monuments here. The valley is very marshy, with patches of poor pasture reached by straggling sheep paths. Beside the track several sites can be seen; the ruins of a cairn, the scrappy remains of a settlement, some upright stones about 20m from the track near a tiny stone circle, and yet another cairn about 50m beyond (site 6). Soon a small lake, Llyn Eiddew-bach, perched on the far side of the glen comes into view, and then dead ahead on the skyline the silhouette of Bryn Cader Faner appears on a rocky knoll in the distance, the protruding ring of stones splaying outwards like strange fingers or the tines on a crown (site 7, 648353). Frances Lynch writes: 'It is a monument of brilliantly effective design, placed with sophisticated precision in its dramatic setting so as to achieve maximum impact on travellers approaching from the south. It is arguably the most beautiful Bronze Age monument in Britain.'. (1995, 51) [note 3]
Cresting the rise on which it stands you see that your sense of distance and perspective has been deceived; although dominant on approach the cairn is tiny, only a few metres across. Standing in front of it, the jagged rock architecture seems to be a microcosm of the peaks of Eyrie which are now clearly in view 15 miles to the north. Probably dated to the Middle Bronze Age, the site has a robbed central cist and about half the stones were removed by soldiers in the Second World War. Its original form is a matter of dispute; whilst Bowen and Gresham argue that it still retains its original appearance (1967, 87-8), Burl writes that it was '... possibly a hybrid, a plain open circle of about thirty stones that was later half-submerged in an untidy round cairn whose little kerbstones are barely detectable', the weight of the cairn possibly pushing out the stones to their present angle (Milligan and Burl 1999 168).
Down into Cwm Moch
As with the pair of cairn circles on Moel Goedog, Bryn Cader Faner is the final (or first) monument in its apparent grouping ,and the outcrop on which it stands forms a transition point in the terrain; as you walk beyond the far side of the cairn it slides quickly from view.
The next section of routeway looks straightforward on the map as it curves slowly around the north west shoulder of Moel Ysgyfarnogod above the valley of Nant Ddu, but I quickly lost the course of the 18th century road in the intermittent mire. There are many lines to take here, and on steep ground beside a prominent rock outcrop I met a short stretch of earlier narrow zig-zagging hollow way. The terrain is wild and broken, with water coursing down every crack and rill of the mountainside. A diversion up the stream which springs from below the daunting little crags of Foel Penolau (presumably the headwater of the Nant Ddu) reveals a miniature forgotten domain (site 8). There are several small sheepfolds and walls, and on a sheltered piece of ground where the stream has carved a steep-sided gully are two superb hut circles, presumably an early hafod site (654357). Higher still, on the 500m contour are the shadowy remains of a longhut sheltering into the slope (c. 659351).
In the lonely valley visible below there are at least three empty farmsteads with their yards and enclosures. Its soft terrain beckons the tired walker, but the track curves eastwards, back into the mountains, and drops down into Cwm Moch - quite as grand and unspoiled as the great cwms of the Carneddau. In its barren womb, on a patch of raised dry ground near the stream is an enclosed prehistoric settlement of two circular houses (site 9, 665362). Two further buildings, rectangular (and perhaps Medieval), were later built on the site. Bowen and Gresham suggest this was a prehistoric 'halfway house, giving shelter and refreshment to those crossing the mountain' (1967, 193). Even if this was the case, its primary role was probably as a mainly seasonal site, perhaps in recurring use over hundreds and thousands of years. Having visited the farmhouse-lodges on the Pilgrim's Trail in Langtang, Nepal, I agree it could well have had a dual function at times.
From the open end of the cwm to the north the white-topped mountains of Snowdonia are conspicuous, but the track climbs in the opposite direction up into the high throat of the glen with its steep slopes and crags from which there seems no way out. The path avoids the marshy ground by taking a course on the far slope but I failed to notice this and floundered on alongside the stream up through bog and boulder-fields in this intimidating and wild environment. High up here is a three-celled stock structure, a shepherds shelter and fold perhaps, whilst 50m away, built into the slope above a little pool, are the ruins of a longhut - perhaps another hafod (c.668359). In the early nineteenth century somewhere in this cwm, a Bronze Age hoard consisting of a spearhead and three rapier blades was found 'under a pretty large stone', probably another example of ritual deposition near an important routeway (see Bowen and Gresham 1967, 122-4). Unfortunately the exact findspot is unknown but my guess is that it was on this boggy approach to the pass rather than from the wide valley floor below.
Thankfully the ground gets gentler and grassier towards the wind-blasted bwlch. Two small prehistoric cairns mark the pass although I could locate neither cairns or pathway (Bowen and Gresham 1967, 86-7). Strangely, the way down seems to cross high drystone walls, but soon I picked up the path again, which passes a sheepfold and then 20m to the left, a fine circular round house foundation 15m across on a slight prominence, invisible from below but with wide views across Llyn Trawsfyndd.
Descending along the narrow, water-filled path, I was soon out of the high wild country. As if in acknowledgement the sun shrugged off the clouds and shone over the big rippling lake, colouring the green pastures and birch trees along the water's edge. The final stretch down to the lakeside road is a proper holloway with earth banked on each side. Whilst I rested beside the road, stripping off layers of wet clothing, a middle-aged farmer drove past on a quad bike, his collie balancing like an expert rodeo rider on an unsteady load of hay on its trailer.
Across the empty moors towards Bala; a full moon and a snowy night
The routeway next has to cross the valley of the Afon Eden before it climbs over the desolate and empty moors to the east. The standing stone of Maen Llwyd is thought to mark the valley crossing (site 10, 707320), with the next indicator at Llech Idris two miles further south east. To save time I decided to omit the valley-stone and make my way up the minor road from Trawsfynydd directly towards the latter. This is a picturesque route, the distinctive broken ridge-line of the Rhinogau running parallel to it four miles away on the right. At the farm of Bryn-llefrith I noted a milestone set into the wall inscribed 'Dolgellau 11 Miles' and guessed that this must have been the main road before the modern A470 trunk road was forced directly along the bottom of the valley [note 4]
After passing the hill farm of Erw-ddwfr I took a short detour east up onto the moor, under the gaze of a pair of raptors riding the wind high overhead, to see a short stretch of surviving Roman road, the Sarn Helen from the fort at Tomen y Mur. It runs roughly parallel with and a couple of hundred metres east of the hill road, discernible as a shelf about 8m wide across the rough sloping pasture. Like many minor Roman military roads which don't follow 'traditional' paths, its lifespan was probably quite short. If it had been adopted later as a stock route for example, it would have broken up into a visibly worn trackway [note 5].
Descending more or less along the line of the Roman road I passed a lonely modern chapel and then struck steeply up a track to the site of Pen-y-Stryd, a supposed stone circle (725312) (Bowen and Gresham 39). Several blocks from a demolished stone wall sit beside the fence but I could see nothing convincing. Certainly its in an interesting location, at a watershed with views of the mountains all around. A walk of half a mile eastwards, onto much lower ground a little above the Afon Gain, brings us to a place of undoubted archaeological significance, the imposing monolith of Llech Idris (site 11, 731311). Although much thinner along one facet, the monument is highly visible from most places in this sheltered quiet valley. Does it marking an early fording point of the river?
This vicinity abounds in history. A Roman tile kiln has been found a few metres to the north of the stone (Lynch 1995, 54), and the fields which surround it have indications of disused boundaries and divisions. Only a few hundred yards away, clearly intervisible with the stone and perhaps associated with the continued use of the area as a route corridor, is the site of Bedd Porus, an early Christian (5th or 6th century) inscribed slab. A replica surrounded by a low painted metal fence now occupies the site (733 315) (Lynch 1995, 130-1). Incongruously, the river is flanked by a series of First World War practice works; buckled and half-buried concrete and rusty corrugated iron litter the ground, and there is even a full-scale gun emplacement (c.734317).
There are perhaps two main options for crossing the moors to the east and gaining the upper reaches of the Dee above Bala. A romantic and wild southerly route (site 12) takes you from the ford near the standing stone along the minor road to Pont Aber Geirw and then alongside the Afon Mawddach to Allt-lwyd (beyond which is a distinct worn routeway) (797289), skirting the northern slopes of Dduallt to take the now impassable footpath across Waun y Griafolen (for which a causeway may have been necessary and perhaps still survives encased in the peat) to the prehistoric and Medieval stronghold of Castell Carndochan above Dolhendre (847307).
The course proposed by Bowen and Gresham, lies further north and is the way I went on this occasion. For the first five miles there is no sign of the route so the only real option is to follow the hill road as it climbs through forest and moor. As this seems to offer the most obvious natural course, to attempt to go cross-country would be perverse. For the first mile it follows beside the river and then turns sharply eastwards over Pont y Gain to enter dark conifer plantation. It was cold and silent in here, with splashes of snow on the verges, but the enclosed stillness made it hot, hard work climbing towards the pass. Eventually the open moor reasserted itself, and soon after I reached the crest at Bwlch Pen-y-fediog (site 13). Every tired step I’d made was rewarded by the wonderful silent panorama which awaited me at the top; the sun was setting behind the now-distant Rhinogau and to the left was the looming snow-streaked bulk of Moel Lyfnant. Awaiting me in front was the valley of the Afon Lliw, from here so reminiscent of the view from Newlands Hause down into Eskdale in the Lake District. Beyond, surprisingly clear in the fading light, unknown dream hills stretched as far as the eye could see.
Many miles have gone by since the last habitation, and you wouldn’t expect to find hill farms in this desolate place, but as the road descends into the valley you pass Blaenlliw isaf near the road, whilst Hendre-blaen-Lliw, Blaen-Lliw-uchaf and Beudy Uchaf (the upper byre) lie on a track up the valley on the left (site 14). I imagine the enfolding hills, Foel Boeth on the west and Moel Lyfnant on the east, must produce a benign micro-climate as these farms are above the 400m contour, the highest and most isolated group I have come across in this country. Perhaps it has been occupied in one way or another for millennia; it certainly evokes the isolation of pre-modern upland settlement [note 6]
A few hundred yards after the farm the suggested line of the ancient track leaves the line of both hill road and stream to continue directly eastwards towards Parc and the head of Lake Bala. The moon was risen and full by now so there was plenty of light, but it required an effort of will to leave the dependable tarmac and enter the dark unknown moorland. The old track started its weaving course up the hillside, turning into a boggy holloway, the moonlight shining so brightly into my eyes that I couldn't see where I was putting my feet. At a little crest there is a small cairn on the left, a route-marker of uncertain date. The track cuts through a narrow gap in some rocks, too narrow for wheeled vehicles, suggesting it was a packhorse/stock road. Laid out darkly ahead of me I could see where the ground fell away and then rose again to a small line of hills, partly clothed in conifer. The track was easy to follow as I lost height but then it dissolved in the marshy tract around the Afon Erwent. By luck rather than judgement I found a place to jump the stream without falling in, and half-blinded by tiredness I struggled through tufted bog-grass and thick heather up the incised, broken slopes of Ffridd Trawsgoed.
Exhaustion forced my choice of campsite; a small sloping patch of turf amongst rocks on the side of a hill. As I put up the tent a palpable stillness descended and I could feel the temperature dropping. Snow was on its way. Cooking was done outside as there was nowhere flat enough in the tent. In my sleeping bag I soon got warm but comfort was impossible as everything, including me, slowly slithered down the slope and had to be continually hauled back into the tent. I lay with my head against the earth, hearing only the throb of the pulse in my head, overwhelmed by this vast cold, dark timeless place. As sleep crept over me, my mind’s eye became a night-bird circling over the whole dark foreboding landscape. To the north I could see the crumbling titanic bulk of Arenig Fawr swallowing the memories welling from the roofless gape of the derelict farm of Amnodd Wen. In the boggy waste on the far side of the Afon Lliw the long-empty homesteads sank into the suffocating marsh, abandoned along with their owners fruitless hopes. In the fathomless distance lay the unnerving bottomless green sea of Waun y Griafolen, with Dduallt, the Black Height looming beyond. As I dozed, I heard snatches of a man's voice and an intangible fragment of music, fading in and out as if from a radio. When I lifted my head to try to listen, it escaped me. The nearest farm was at Buarthmeini on the hill road only half a mile away to the south; the web-soft sounds must have drifted up and across the moor, undissipated by even the slightest movement in the air, or just maybe it was a faint echo of sound from long ago, forever caught in the folds of these hills.
The gentle brush of snowflakes against the tent sides began at about 1.00 clock and continued intermittently through the night and I arose in the fine clear morning to a world of pure white, the shivering sheep dull and grimy against a pristine backcloth. Picking up the track again I blithely followed it down through a mile of dark forest, but reaching the far side realised I'd taken the wrong path. My punishment for inattention was that instead of the direct line through Parc to Bala (site 15), I had to follow a more angular and tedious course sliding down the iced hill road past Dolhendre and dodging cars on the main trunk road along the full length of Llyn Tegid [note 7].
The old route from Bala to Llangynog in the snow
A couple of hours of roadwalking brought me to the lakeside car park at Bala where I was joined by my old friend Stewart for the last part of the route from Bala to Llangynog at the head of the Tanat valley. The modern road between the two settlements takes a curving course round to the north east, seeking to follow the contours as much as possible. This was the road used by Borrow when he walked in the opposing direction from Llanrhaeadr to Bala. In contrast, the old road is pretty direct and makes little concession to topography. Whilst the only indication of a prehistoric origin is a single cairn near the first pass (see next paragraph), contact between these two important valleys must have been needed from earliest times and I see no reason to doubt its use as a route corridor.
From Bala the first clear objective is the cairn which marks the pass at Bwlch y Fenni two miles to the south east (site 16, 971331). But how to reach it? A footpath near the hamlet of Rhos-y-gwaliau offers a fairly clear line, and we found a track traversing up the hillside. Soon, however, the topography is masked by vile forest and its accursed random roads. Still, we made a good fist of getting through (using compass bearings) to reach the large house of Maen Hir (the name perhaps indicative of a lost route marker stone), although we failed to locate the cairn.
Sitting by a gate leading from the farm environs into the unenclosed country we had lunch. Ahead of us were two miles across tough, wet beautiful heather moor rising to the wide ridge of Foel Cwm -Sian Llwyd on the skyline. Wandering at random at first we soon located a pathway: Initially I thought it was a shooting track but was quickly convinced that we had fallen on the road proper - a holloway with banks on either side, overgrown with heather. After traversing dry ground along the side of the slope it gradually drops to run alongside the Nant Cwm-Hesgen. In places it has become one with the bog, whilst elsewhere its channel is marked by a strip of rushes about 4m wide. The only visible signs of recent use are some narrow sheep paths sometimes flanking the track, but there are no bootmarks. Even in good repair this must have been a daunting crossing in bad weather. We criss-crossed the track, down into the marshy bottom and up onto the banks, vainly seeking an easy way, but there was none. Stewart had recently taken up running and could now easily outpace me when we went training together. He made light of the thick, wearying heather, but I comforted myself with the thought that I'd already walked 8 miles with a pack earlier that morning.
Haze now obscured our view of the far distant hills as we reached the high point, but the middle horizon was clear ahead; to our left was the scar of the path from Milltir Gerrig up the Berwyn, and ahead the ground fell gradually into Cwm Rhiwarth along which, still five miles off, was our destination beneath the dark bulk of Craig Rhiwarth (site 18, see Berwyn chapter). The heather soon changed to turf as we lose altitude, and the track becomes two - and in places three - wide and impressive holloways; it is easy to imagine complaining herds of cattle struggling along these once muddy, churned funnels (site 17). Standing just above the waterfalls at the head of Cwm Rhiwarth you can trace both the line of the modern road down to Llangynog traversing the steep flank of Post Gwyn, and also the course of the earlier track descending sharply into the head of the cwm beside the falls [note 8].
The track becomes knee-jarringly stony as it descends relentlessly onto the floor of the cwm where fields and enclosed pasture are reached at last. Frost had hung here all day and was sharpening again as evening came on. From the farm at Blaen-rhiwarth there is a surfaced road which brought us sliding and skating the last couple of tortuous miles down to the village.
We had made no arrangements to get back to Stewart’s car in Bala and the bus timetable posted at stop told us the good news that we were just in time for the bus, but most inconsiderately, this would only take us in the opposite direction to Oswestry. As the timetable had no other constructive suggestions we sought inspiration at the Tanat Valley Arms across the road. The warmth washed over me in the doorway. As the coffees we'd ordered dripped through the filter I established from the landlady that there were no local taxis for hire. Luckily a man standing at the bar offered to give us a lift as he was driving our way to visit his girlfriend. His car whisked us up the pass over the cattle grid and on to Milltir Gerrig where snow started to fall gently.'This road can be terrible in winter' he informed us 'the snow blows into drifts around here and many times you have to turn back' . He was from Llanrhaeadr and had been foxhunting that day 'because they take chickens and lambs...we kill about 400 each year and there don't seem to be any less'. At the car park in Bala we retrieved our gear from the boot and I noticed his blued and oiled shotgun tucked at the back. Much later, back home, we drank a toast to the man from Llanrhaeadr.
Note 1: In summary the evidence I found for this trackway is as follows:
1. Llanbedr to the standing stones. Various possible routes - little specific evidence.
2. Across the Rhinogau. Two clusters of monuments on routeway plus hoard and marker cairns. Also the course of a Post-Medieval moorland roadway - very convincing.
3. Across the moors from Llyn Trawsfynydd to Bala. Standing stones and occasionally other sites may indicate the route. Last part on a 'traditional' moorland road - very believable but little direct evidence.
4. Bala to Llandynog. Initially route unclear, 'traditional' roadway across the moors. Very impressive holloways on descent to L. Only one 'marker' cairn - Little direct evidence but context is very plausible.
Note 2: There are several occupation sites in the vicinity (although not necessarily contemporary). The hillfort on the top of Moel Goedog is possibly Late Bronze Age in origin (614 325, Lynch 1995, 81-2)
Note 3: From this side of the valley the monument is only visible from a narrow approach corridor; it falls out of view if you diverge only a few yards from the path. However, the phenomenologically-minded student will also note that it is similarly dominant when approaching from the northern shore of the wild little lake of Llyn Eiddew-bach. There is a ?natural causeway-like feature 'pointing' towards the cairn in the base of the marshy valley and also a number of suspicious peaty mounds near the stream.
Note 4: The A470 apparently originated as a turnpike around 1800 although Waddilove suggests it actually follows a Roman line (1999 143-65)] .
Note 5: For alternative views on whether this road terminated slightly beyond here at the kiln sites of Penystryd (726319) or continued southwards see Cantrell and Rylance 1992 102-12, and Waddilove 1999 167-72 and see Lynch 109-10).
Note 6: Still higher up this inexpressibly beautiful cwm is an abandoned homestead (796349), and higher still, beyond all track and footpath, tucked against rock outcrops are sheepfolds, a shepherd shelter, and other remains. A Roman road is supposed to cross Bwlch y Bi at the head of the cwm (a spur from the main road through the Bala cleft over the hills from Caer Gai to Tomen y Mur) but I have found no sign of it (Bowen and Gresham 1967, 255-6).
Note 7: The Parc route apparently follows the packhorse trail along tracks and roads and whilst there is no direct evidence for a prehistoric origin, Bowen and Gresham highlight the following: Three Graig Lwyd axes found at Tyn Llechwedd south of Parc (878327), possible standing stones or a circle destroyed in the 1870's north of Parc near the cottage of Meinihirion (866353), and the finding of a palstave mould at Parc itself (Bowen and Gresham 1967, 25, 28, 60 )
Note 8: This is the view shown in Watson 1965 47, with the old route denoted as the 'Bronze Age trackway', and whilst the deep furrows presumably derive from cattle droving in more recent centuries, I think the route spilling into Cwm Rhiwarth at this point must be prehistoric.
See here for contents page, or here for the bibliography.
Note: This is part of an original series of articles written by archaeologist M M Robinson.
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