Abandoned Landscapes - The Druid's Circle Trackway (Llanfairfechan to the Conwy)
Submitted by TimPrevett on Monday, 13 November 2006 Page Views: 15513
Multi-periodCountry: Wales County: Conwy (Bwrdeistref Sirol)Internal Links:
This trail crosses a 6 mile stretch of the Northern Carneddau from Llanfairfechan to the Conwy although the actual line is only clear for a mile or so of the central section where it takes on the character of a symbolic or ceremonial routeway, the nexus of which is at the Druid's Circle sanctuary.
This stretch has diverse and complex viewsheds to the nearby Neolithic axe factory of Graig Llwyd, Anglesey, and the Great Orme (the site of the largest known prehistoric copper mine in Europe) standing starkly across the waters of the Conwy Bay. To walk the full route, trying to piece together the shreds and strands of evidence, is an exhilarating and rewarding archaeological exercise.
The little town of Llanfairfechan discloses its own story as you walk up through it alongside the stream of the same name; the shops and villas of the Victorian seaside resort sit along the coastal shelf, then the older, local centre near the bridge (with a mix of quarrymen's cottages and terraces, resort houses old and new), and then finally at and beyond the edge, a farm or two. There were probably several routes onto the moors from this direction; the main one passes directly along the north side of Dinas hillfort, through Ty'n-y-llwyfan farm and along a fine stretch of old worn trackway which passes close to a cairn with cist (Bezant Lowe 1912, 25) (sites 1 and 2, 696740) [note 1].
Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be a right of way so instead I took an elliptical but pleasing course to the north along narrow roads and fields to the hill farm of Waen which has a picturesque broken and rusting water wheel attached to a collapsing outbuilding beside the road. From here an old boundary bank and ditch steers you up the slope and onto the verge of the wonderful moorscape. The routeway lies straight ahead across a wide corridor of rough turf, gorse and reed-grass. Flanking the left hand side into the distance are the high, undulating rocky outcrops which drop straight down to the coast - the remnants of Penmaenmawr Mountain, Graig Lwyd and Foel Lus. On the right is Dinas hillfort, now appearing only as a slight hump from this elevation, and beyond is a mile or more of open boggy ground containing dozens of Bronze Age cairns and burnt mounds, framed by the long ridge of Tal y Fan.
There is a selection of several intermittent parallel tracks to choose from across the undulating terrain; the clearest appears to be the course of an 18th century coach road about four metres across and about a metre deep. Within half a mile, the corridor begins to narrow between Graig Lwyd on the left and the steep turf and bilberry covered hill of Moelfre on the right. Beside the track is a big stony cairn, sited on a natural eminence to make it look more imposing, and behind the field wall is well-preserved kerb cairn and the remnants of a large structured cairn (site 3) (Bezant Lowe 1912, 27 fig 16). This marks the approach to the heart of the sanctuary area, where monument after monument is encountered within a wider, symbolic geography.
Graig Lwyd is a key site within one of most important Neolithic axe-production centres in Britain, its products being found widely in North Wales (in the Neolithic house and henge at Llandegai for instance), and in many other areas of Britain. Sources for stone axes appear to have been regarded as special or sacred places. Where the sources are in spectacular or inaccessible locations, the resulting artifacts were perhaps imbued with the charisma of the place. The Langdale site high on the difficult slopes of Pike o' Stickle in the Lake District is frequently so cited (Bradley and Edmonds 1993; Muir and Welfare 1983, 52-4).
Graig Lwyd, whilst only appearing as a hill from the adjacent routeway, takes the form of a high and very distinct outcrop when viewed from the coast and the Conwy Bay. It appears to have been exploited throughout the Neolithic; rough-outs and finished axes perhaps entered circulation via the trackway or were taken directly down to the coast at Penmaenmawr to be transported by boat. Excavations at the site have disclosed areas of quarrying with roughouts and flakes, working floors and an inscribed stone, the marking possibly of an entopic design (Lynch et al 2000, 22-3, 58, 131; Griffiths 1960 307, 313; Williams and Davidson 1998) [note 2].
Beyond Moelfre the wide coach road sticks to the lower and flatter ground whilst the earlier course cuts into the side of the slope across the uneven ground on the approach to the sanctuary zone; its flat grassy base about a yard wide. Then it bends left and up the slope in braids to merge again into a single V-shaped path lined with close-cropped turf, only wide enough for single-file passage. This is the critical stretch; just above the track is a strange grouping of large smooth stones, some standing and some lying at their ease on the grass. It is difficult to make sense of their layout but it has been suggested they perhaps formed a stone row marking the edge of the sanctuary associated with one or two small circles (site 4) (F. Lynch). The views are not extensive from here; both the sea and Tal y Fan are out of sight, and it is not intervisible with the Druid's Circle. However, it is intervisible with the approach from Moelfre and also with the summit of Graig Lwyd itself, and this may have been a significant factor in its siting.
A fine ring-cairn a few yards upslope is a much better viewpoint, with both stone circles being visible from it, as well as the Anglesey, Graig Lwyd, Conwy Bay, and the Great Orme peninsula jutting into the sea (site 5, known as circle 278; see Crew and Musson 1996, 11, Griffiths 1960 318-22).
Returning to the little holloway, it widens somewhat as it approaches and touches the Druid's Circle, a site widely known since the 18th century when coaches would stop to allow tourists to sketch the 'romantick' remains (site 6, 723746). Even in foul weather you will normally find people here but its best appreciated in solitude. On this day, apart from some wild ponies with foal, and the moorland birds, I had the place to myself. It is Late Neolithic in date, with remains of a portal entrance to the west. In the centre was a cist with an urn inside which contained the cremated remains of a child 10-12 years old. Whilst there is no proof, it is difficult to avoid the thought that this was a human sacrifice as part of a dedicatory or later ceremony (Griffiths 1960, 315, 330). Two other cremation urns were buried inside the circle, one again containing the remains of a child. Quartz boulders, nodules and chips were scattered about, a common feature of such ritual sites (Griffiths 1960; Burl 1993, 38, 228; Milligan and Burl 1999 36-9). It was founded at a time when Graig Llwyd was probably still in use, and several pieces of its special stone were found in the northern half of the circle during its excavation including 2 fragments of probable broken axe rough outs (although the excavator thought their presence pre-dated the circle) (Griffiths 1960 309) [note 3]
Detailed survey has shown that the northern part of the circle is slightly flattened, and it is generally accepted that this was to avoid the hollowed track. Obviously this would mean that the trail predates the circle (Griffiths 1960 313)! If true, the implications are profound; it would confirm a Neolithic date for the actual worn trail, and furthermore, by laying out the circle to join onto but not encroach on the route, the builders appear to be connecting it physically and symbolically with a wider world [note 4].
Ironically, the circle appears to have been deliberately sited to avoid views of the surrounding landscape, especially key features such as Graig Lwyd or the Great Orme, perhaps to give a temporary sense of separation from the rest of the world during ceremonies. Immediately adjacent on its far (eastern) side a stream arises from the wet moorland and drops down in a distinct boggy gully towards Penmaenmawr. Again, this could have been a factor in deciding its location (cf. the sanctuary at Tref-y-nant above Llangollen).
What are we to make of this extraordinary place and its monuments? Perhaps it was a ceremonial portal through which axes had to pass before entering the human domain: Mike Pitts has suggested that wear in a hollow on the rear of the large stone on the north east of Druid's circle (opposite the entrance) was from axe sharpening (Pitts, Hengeworld). Perhaps it was also a gathering place for other kinds of exchange, communication and ceremony: The depth of the holloway on the apparently Neolithic trail suggests the passage of much stock rather than just human travellers.
It is also almost incredible that this sanctuary - within one of the most prolific stone axe production zones in Britain - also looks directly across Cardigan bay to the huge Great Orme copper mines, exploited from about 1800-600 cal BC (Lynch et al 2000, 97, Dutton and Fasham 1994). Although there would have been a gap of several hundred years between the abandonment of one extraction site and the beginning of use at the other, was there any lingering resonance with those still using the routeway, and was the sanctuary zone used by those with a connection with the copper mines? I believe so; three hundred metres further east of the Druid's Circle, to the left of a beautifully clear and wide stretch of trail (Photo 21), is a small cairn circle consisting of five large recumbent stones (site 7, known as circle 275). Aubrey Burl, who dates it to 1400-1100 BC, recognises it as directly comparable to the recumbent stone circles of SW Ireland and states that 'its presence so far from its homeland was the result of traders in Irish copper ores bringing the material to North Wales and setting up their own shrine.' (Milligan and Burl 1999 40).
On reading this interpretation I immediately wondered about an alternative - that the little circle was a ceremonial focus for a community with cultural links with the copper producing area of Ireland (most likely an immigrant group), but associated with copper mining at the Great Orme. This would mean that the trackway was still seen as a sacred way (and possibly one which outside groups could utilise and appropriate). With this thought in mind I revisited the site to see if the Great Orme peninsula was actually visible from the little circle, and discovered that when approaching up the track from the east the view was hidden behind the intervening hill of Foel Lus, but at the very point where you reach the circle the jutting head of the peninsula magically appears from behind the hill.
The extensive tract of ground between the Druid's circle trackway and Tal y Fan is nowadays a grand open moor with little streams incised into the peat, tussock grass, heather, bilberry, and gorse. Peeking out here and there are several cairns, cists, burnt mounds, and a settlement site (site 8, centred on 714725) which indicate that it was more hospitable in prehistory, and that people did clear and exploit this land, even if only for a few generations. At least two minor tracks appear to radiate from the Druid’s Circle sanctuary area, and I wonder if these may have been associated with specific lineages whose territory lay along them (Bezant Lowe 1912, 27-35, esp. Fig 17; and see Bruck 1999, 68-9). The first pathway courses almost due south from the sanctuary and crosses over a bwlch across Tal y Fan, although the apparent lack of a worn track or a marker cairn at the pass suggests it was not a major route (726725).
The second path diverges from the main trail a little beyond the 'Irish' cairn (site 7, circle 275) where there is an incongruous metal finger-post, and leads south east for a moorland mile to a meeting of ways marked by the standing stone of Maen Penddu - or Maen y Campiau, Stone of the Games (site 9, 739735, Lynch 1995, 42-3). Twenty metres to the west, four or five low stones peek inconspicuously out of the rampant bilberry - the remains of a small stone circle, signifying that this is another sanctuary site. It is a quiet, compelling place surrounded by low hills and crags, where wild ponies and sheep wander lazily past along the ancient green trackway. I recall the strange compelling photograph of the site in Bezant Lowe's book of 1912. The stone and the hills look no different, and the path in front looks just the same, but in the bottom left hand corner of the image there are three conjoined shadows cast on the ground - the ghosts of the photographer, A. H. Hughes, and a companion (possibly Bezant Lowe himself, with the hunched shape of a cowled plate-camera in-between, fleetingly imprinted on this landscape, like so many others before and since (1912 p61 pl. 44) [note 5].
Joining the dots: Looking for the route across Waen Gyrach
Returning to the main Druid’s Circle trackway we can now continue on our journey. Accompanying the modern footpath are slight indications of the earlier worn route as the ground descends, and all sight of the upper, ceremonial section is quickly lost. Within half a mile you reach the little farmstead of Bryn Derwydd (Hill of the Druid), which is close to yet another cluster of monuments. The building has been altered, and with its suburban bay window looks like a weekend holiday home. The modern route dog-legs to join a track in front of the house but I noticed a deeply worn trail diverging from the footpath at this point to curve behind the house (presumably disused by the time the house was built). Tall conifers form a line in front of the house, and in the sloping field beyond is the standing stone Maen Crwn (complete or round stone), which stands like an uninvited visitor skulking outside the house, the way in guarded by the row of trees (site 10, 731750). The stone is big - its squat physique belying its size. In the next field are four small upright stones, the last survivors of another circle, and beyond is a possible damaged cairn (site 11, 732750, RCHMW 1956 90 site 276).
I have little doubt that these monuments, on a direct line from the Druid's Circle group, are connected with the ancient routeway, but beyond here there is little indication of its course down from the hill. Perhaps several strands and variants presented themselves (e.g. north west down to Penmaenmawr or north east towards the Sychnant Pass). But I wished to follow a hunch of my own; that it continued directly on its course, now unused and forgotten, east from Maen Crwn to a standing stone and nearby stone circle less than a mile away overlooking the Conwy valley. When you are actually here, standing beside Maen Crwn, the way looks unpromising; the monuments are over the horizon and the projected route goes diagonally across the valley of the Afon Gyrach (stream of the drove way), a tract of featureless rough moorland cross-cut by large drystone walls. On the positive side the line does head straight for a good fording point of the stream (now with a footbridge), and on the skyline, atop the gentle ridge of Cefn Llechen there is a slight notch, marked by a rock.
Within 200 yards of leaving Maen Crwn, in the field below the ruined stone circle, I was greatly encouraged by the discovery of a slight but distinct worn track passing beneath the tall field wall (and thus definitely not in use for at least the past 200 years or so), heading towards the ford. Crossing at a stile I picked up its course again in the next field where it faded out amongst the unkempt gorse on the approach to the stream. I stopped here for a rest and a drink from its waters when two middle-aged couples appeared as if from nowhere and lined up for a photo on the little bridge. The way now skirted the field walls of an abandoned homestead heading up towards the final crest and the Conwy valley, and then turned north east along the grain of the slope looking for a gap through the heathery ridge [note 6]. Soon a very large and distinctive natural rock is encountered beside the track, flat-topped and split along a thick quartz fault-line, just possibly acting as a natural route-marker in the past (site 12, Photo 22).
From here two options to cross the ridge present themselves. The first is through the little bwlch I'd spotted from Maen Crwn, and this has a clear and deep V-shaped hollow way along its left hand side (site 13, 744752, Photo 23). On sheltered flat ground close by are the low walls and enclosures of an early settlement which I suspect has prehistoric origins although some rectangular building foundations suggest later usage as well. Reaching the crest, a few yards descent brought me to a Bronze Age cist standing proud from the turf. Here the Conwy at last discloses itself, and a little further down the tall standing stone comes into sight, located in a field 300 yards further down the slope towards the river (site 14, 747749) [note 7].
A few minutes walk away to the left are the remains of the stone circle, sited on a flat strip of ground looking down into and across the Conwy valley (site 15, 747752, circle and standing stone in RCHMW 1956 97, sites 303, 304).). This strip nowadays provides a wide pathway for the many walkers who populate the area. Thinking this was just the place for lunch I seated myself on a nearby stone and began extracting the ingredients from my rucksack - a tin of chunky vegetable soup, cheese, pan, gas canister, spoon, striker, but though I tipped out a heap of other 'essential' pieces of outdoor kit, I was forced to conclude that the actual burner had not accompanied me. So I sat eating cold soup straight from the tin whilst greeting passing walkers of various breeds and fending off a consommé-loving Labrador called Ben. I found the burner sulking in a corner when I got home.
The way down into the Conwy valley from here was not apparent to me, and it may be that the stone and circle signified the end of the formal way. From below, the standing stone (site 14) is invisible on approach from downriver (north east) but it can be seen for some distance from the east and south east, and if it was indeed a route-marker then we might expect the track to come up from the direction of Henryd or Gwern Borter [note 8]. To get off the moor I followed the path straight down the slope to Hafodty where the farmer and his dog were working in a small field close-by. Bluebell and primula lined the steep concrete farm track below, whilst sheep with lambs and cattle with calves ambled alongside; I was reaching the valley lowland.
On a bright sunny day like this the minor roads along the main valley make blissful walking. I followed my nose to Roewen and then made my way back via the valley road beside the wide marshy basin of Tafolog up to Bwlch y Ddeufaen, along the ancient road and then down the steep zigzag descent back to Llanfairfechan. For the following few nights my dreams were alive with interminable winding grassy trackways across infinite barren moors.
Note 1: Dinas is a natural fortress atop the uninvitingly steep and shattered scree above Y Teiryd (Three Streams), dominating the viewscape of the area. There are several round houses visible on the stony summit and also on the grassy slopes on the east side (RCHMW 1956 119 site 391, 122-3 sites 402, 5 round huts, site 403, platform). It was probably used long before the Iron Age, as indicated by the discovery of flakes and roughouts from stone axe production on its western slopes]
Note 2: Evidence for axe production is not confined to this outcrop - other known sites include Penmaenmawr Mountain (now largely quarried away), Dinas and Garreg Fawr. Other un-located occurrences of the stone further afield may also have been utilised (S. Briggs, Pers. Comm.).
Note 3: There is thought to be an association between the axe factories and stone circles in the Lake District (Burl 1999).
Note 4: A simple setting-out error must not be discounted, which would undermine the second part of this hypothesis. This did sometimes happen (see for example Burl 1999)].
Note 5: In wandering these moors, I have found it quite difficult to follow these subsidiary routes or to pin down several of the prehistoric sites here, especially in the all-too-frequent mist, but its fun to try! There is a relict (?prehistoric) boundary wall apparent as a very low bank with stones visible through the peat where erosion had exposed them (very roughly at 725734), and there are several fine isolated Post-Medieval buildings and oval sheepfolds strung along the upper watercourses shedding down from Tal y Fan. A substantial abandoned settlement stands at 734736 whilst nearby, beside the track at 733735 I was excited to find a stock-pen with a stone slab roof, currently used as a sheep shelter (Photo 24). This was a type unknown to me but I later discovered it was a Peat House of c.1700AD recorded in RCHMW 1956 vol. 1 lxxviii. There is another example near Maen Penddu at 739734 (RCHMW 1956,164 site 592)]
Note 6: Carrying on south east straight up the hill past the homestead enclosure is a narrow sunken footway passing close to a group of cairns higher up. This is the route for the trackway as shown on RCHMW 1956, Fig. 15 (cairns described in Bezant Lowe 1912, 33, RCHMW 1956, no. 205, 742749). One suspects that on these outlying sections several approaches were in use.
Note 7: Scouting around further I found a possible second route across the crest which starts at a Bronze Age 'box cist' at the entrance to the notch but courses more to the north east directly towards the stone circle, traceable as a vague worn hollow up the side of the hill which dissipates before reaching the circle. However, interpretations should be based on detailed field survey of all the features and track ways in the landscape rather than such speculations.
Note 8: Similarly, much entertainment can be had by speculating on the alternative crossing points of the Conwy. Senior (1991) notes that two ferrying points are documented in the Medieval period - one upriver at Tal y Cafn (near Penhrhyd, meaning 'head of the ford' ), and another downriver at Conwy itself which was certainly stimulated (if not initiated) by the decision of Edward 1st to build his castle there.
(8 cont) In earlier times, travellers must also have been fording/ferrying the river. Was this from Hendryd (site 16), opposite the Neolithic tomb of Allor Molloch? Was it at Tal y Cafn, guarded in turn by Pen y Gaer hillfort, Canovium Roman fort and the Medieval motte of Bryn Castell (site 17, RCHMW 1956 27, 783719)? Were people also coming along the coast by boat and disembarking somewhere along the estuary?
(8 cont.) One route meriting further comment is that which takes a north westerly course through Gwern Borter (site 18) towards Maen Penddu (site 9) and thence to the Druid's circle sanctuary area. This follows the steep road which leads to the isolated little parish church of St Celynin beside a wide col (site 18, 751 737, Lynch 1995, 142-3; RCHMW 1956 128-9, site 443). Although this was a defined Medieval route, I hypothesise that its origin was much earlier, and that the flat secluded area around the church was also perhaps the setting for prehistoric ceremonial activity. Not only does the topography feel right but the presence of Ffynnon Gelynin, a holy well in the corner of churchyard may be indicative (RCHMW 1956 133 site 466). Prehistoric occupation is attested here by a fine round house on rough wet ground across the track from the church (RCHMW 1956 132 site 751736, site 457). The track continues west for a kilometre to reach Maen Penddu].
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Note: This is part of an original series of articles written by archaeologist M M Robinson.
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