The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Y Pigwn

Stone Circle

Fieldnotes

It's been quite some time since my first time here, and I think it would have been another quite some time if not for Evergreen dazed insisting he had to go right away. Unfortunately his misses was ill (or he didn't like the weather reports) so it was just thesweetcheat and I.
It rained nearly all the way here, and with my sciatic leg urging me to crash the car and die, it wasn't perfect, otherwise another nice drive down the A49. It had stopped raining by the time we got there, and started to snow instead. Weather proofing donned we set off down the track, which is wholly unpassable to all except for tractors and tanks. With snow coming down sideways we struck off the track and headed for the stones, they are below the hill with the Roman forts and as such unmissable. Eventually, it's always further than you think, we arrive at the stooones, miffed with the crappy weather, but pleased to find such a wonderful site.
We wander fairly haphazardly, photographing this and that, The bigger of the two circles is pretty much intact, it's two most striking stones are a flat topped loaf like stone and the other a chair shaped stone, could these two prominent stones frame an entrance ?
The smaller ring only has four stones to it, all leaning, where Carl saw his fallen stone I don't know, perhaps Alken saw it.
Where stones are missing there are holes filled with water.
This is a great site, but it's not till now that I realised just how complex it is.
We decide to go off looking for the two nearby cairns, the one nearer to the Roman forts proved harder to find, namely due to looking in the wrong place. But from that cairn we could easily see the other cairn, the one which Carl stumbled across.
Both cairns have good distant views of the Brecon Beacons, which today have snow upon their higher reaches. From this cairn there is a big boulder nearby,we mosey on over (it's stopped snowing now).It is a big stone next to some excavated pool like area, it would serve as a good point to leave the track and head over to the stone circles via the more obvious of the two Y Pygwn cairns.
From the cairn that is No 2 we head for the fallen monolith, half way there we come across two stones,one could be the outlier that Carl found, but five yards from it is a lower stone, prehistoric goal posts or an obvious boundary between the living and the dead,(sniggers).
The big fallen stone would have marked the winter solstice sunrise from the center of the bigger circle, and it would have been the biggest stone here. But now it lies broken amid that thick horrible grass that likes to hide stones. From the fallen stone to the ring half way is another prostrate stone with a weird worn groove upon it, a line drawn through both fallen stones would also touch the western arc of the big circle.
From the smaller circle we spotted a possible stone row, possible or not it leads to cairn 2.
So.... to completely "get" this place more than one trip is advised and have a really good walk around, I cant say that all we saw was part of the plan, but I think we saw all there was to see, making it a very complex complex.

It's all yours Simon.
postman Posted by postman
2nd March 2014ce
Edited 2nd March 2014ce

Comments (4)

How great is this site? Along with Nant Tarw and the Cerrig Duon/Waun Leuci complexes, this part of South Wales is amazing. thesweetcheat Posted by thesweetcheat
2nd March 2014ce
Yes they don't mess about with half measures round here do they.
All or nothing.
postman Posted by postman
2nd March 2014ce
I'll get here one day!

Nice pics.
Evergreen Dazed Posted by Evergreen Dazed
5th March 2014ce
I'm sure you will.

Thanks.
postman Posted by postman
5th March 2014ce
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