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Round Cairn
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A Bronze Age burial cairn crowns Twll yr Ogof, lying to the southwest of the 2,040ft summit of Craig-y-Llyn at the western end of Cadair Idris's great escarpment. The eponymous 'Llyn' (lake) in question is the beautiful Llyn Cyri, lying at the base of a plunging cliff-line. So, what gives with the vernacular name for this great prehistoric funerary monument: (roughly) Hole/Hollow of the Cave? Is the 'cave' referenced here the now vandalised funerary cairn, the 'hole or hollow' the former cist/chamber which presumably once sat within? The Gwynedd Archaeological Trust (PRN4230) informs us that the monument was: "..Opened by Wynne-Foulkes in 1850 having been previously opened by an old woman some years before. Wynne-Foulkes excavated the centre but found nothing...". Now, far for me to cast aspersions upon unnamed old women of yore... but, did this one know something Wynne-Foulkes and our good selves do not?
The monument is substantial, yet it is the superlative scenery which steals the show here, particularly looking north across the sublime Mawddach Estuary to Central Snowdonia. Welsh folklore informs us that Cadair Idris was (quite literally) the 'chair' or seat of the legendary giant Idris... while fizzy drink aficionados of a certain age will perhaps conjure up other images since the factory was nearby. Perhaps it still is?
[edit] Incidentally, visitors to the stone circle of Cerrig Arthur - located some 5 miles to the northwest across the Afon Mawddach - will note that the southeastern stones of that ring appear (to me) to be almost certainly aligned upon Twll yr Ogof. Why not go see for yourself?
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Posted by GLADMAN
7th November 2009ce
Edited 20th January 2024ce
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