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Pwll-yr-Wydden Fach

Round Cairn

Miscellaneous

There are two contrasting man-made monuments to see here, a cairn and improbably sited hut circle, as well as Nature's own efforts in the form of some serious shakeholes.

The name is a bit obscure, as "Wydden" appears to have several different meanings. The most likely for a place-name element seems to be "tree", although generally it means that in the context of particular species, e.g. onn-wydden = ash tree; ffynidd-wydden = fir tree, whereas a non-species specific tree would usually be "coed".
However, a more interesting translation is "wood spirit", as in Bodelwydden ("Home of the Wood Spirit").

Hopefully someone who speaks Welsh can confirm or otherwise!

If it is "tree", the name would be something like "Small pit of the tree" (there's a non-"fach" version a little to the north, with a waterfall).

Pwll-yr-Wydden Fach cairn (SN82921508)
A cairn is located between two shakeholes.
It measures 10m in diameter and 0.5m high and is composed of loose small grade stones with some larger stones. The edge of the mound is grassed over. On the north-west lies a large slab and at the centre is a hollow 1.5m across and 0.3m deep.
Pwll-yr-Wydden Fach hut circle (SN82891510)
The hut circle is located at the bottom of a shake hole. Internally it measures 3.2m north to south by 2.8m and is bounded by a low stone wall of roughly coursed slabs and blocks. The wall measures 0.6m thick and survives to a height of 0.6m above the rubble strewn interior. On the west is a well marked entrance flanked on each side by boulders; they measure 1.1m and 1.3m long respectively and are separated by a distance of 0.45m.
 thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
2nd October 2013ce
Edited 2nd October 2013ce

Comments (2)
Well, courtesy of my dictionary.. 'gwydden' says it's a feminine noun for tree. You'd lose the g if it mutates you see. And 'gwydd' is the plural. Cos Welsh plurals are often shorter words than the singular. So when you say 'coed' is a non-specific tree, more precisely it's trees, it's a wood (coeden is the singular). Whereas your 'gwydden' as you say is a specific tree, I guess a recognisable individual tree you could go up to, a landmark? So there we are. Probably.
If only there were 48 hours in the day and I could get back to my efforts to learn.

The circle at the bottom of the shake hole though. Now that's a weird thing. 		Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
3rd October 2013ce
Brilliant, thanks! (Incidentally my dictionary has "coed" as tree as well as wood).

It is weird, who lives in a house like this? 		thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
3rd October 2013ce
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