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Craig-y-Llyn (Cadair Idris)Round Cairn
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Leaving Craig yr Aderyn behind I drive past Castle y Bere, then past Lady Jones' chapel, and then past a farm called Gwastadfryn. The track leads one higher and higher, through two gates until we reach Hafotty Gwastadfryn. This really is as far as you can safely drive, it is an appreciable percentage of the climb and not wanting a full bore hike I settled for this half drive half walk affair. Checking the compass, I set off in the easterly direction it indicated, naturally it is all up hill and it did'nt take long to start huffing and puffing. With plenty of breather stops to turn and take in the scenery, which is dramatic to say the least. Only the highest peak of Cader Idris was visible for an ocean of fast foamy clouds were spilling over the tops, looking like an otherworldly Niagara falls. There are two grassy tracks leaving Hafotty Gwastadfryn one leads eventually to the cairns of Tyrrau Mawr , and the one I was treading leads to Moel Gallt. I got fed up with the even easy track and struck off at an angle up the boggy and uneven slope to try and reach the cliff tops of Craig y llyn. After a great deal of huffing and an unhealthy dose of puffing, I arrived at the top, half way between the cairn of my desires and the peak(ish) of Craig y Llyn. The view north, east and west were free of clouds and the view was as ever stunning, but the southern aspect was stubbornly remaining completely engulfed in cloud. The cloud bank periodically sent a few tendrils of wispy cloud my way but the wind which was'nt as bad as last time but still quite strong quickly did my bidding and kept the hill top cloud free. At the eastern end of the mother hills just before the gradient goes steeply down is this cairn, it's been badly scooped out and the wall next to it is probably to blame for its disheveled nature. But enough remains of it to deduce that it was once a big big cairn, it's best view is down the Dyffryn Dysinni to the sea, but with a watchfull eye to the godly abode of Cader Idris over it's shoulder. The clouds came and went, sometimes thick and veiling but mostly thin and ghostly, the sun just seemed to highlight the shimmery beauty of nature. But to the south always cloud, and the cloud still poured over the mountain tops, I have spent too much time here now and it's time for a short walk in Tyrrau mawr's direction before I loose my mind completely to this heavenly scene. |
Posted by postman15th November 2011ce Edited 15th November 2011ce |
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Carnedd Llwyd on Moel Gallt-y-Llyn.From Archaeologia Cambrensis v3 (1852). |
Posted by Rhiannon6th September 2012ce Edited 6th September 2012ce |
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The Gwynedd Archaeological Trust has the following to say (PRN4230): '45ft diameter from E-W? Near the summit of Moel Gallt y Llyn. 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.... A cairn of roughly piled stones measuring 13m E-W and 14m N-S, on a W facing slope averaging 1.2m high. There is a hole in the centre, 6m across and 1.2m deep which has exposed the natural ground surface'. Incidentally, GAT also cites the existence of a further cairn surmounting the high ground below and to the west at SH65141153. Sceptical - as always - I decided to revisit Oct 2023, only to find.... nothing. Which, of course, is not to say that evidence does not exist. The GAT record is given below should anyone wish to try their luck: "Cairn, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant Primary Reference Number (PRN): 4248 Trust: Gwynedd Community: Llanfihangel-y-Pennant Unitary Authority: Gwynedd NGR: SH65141153 Site Type (preferred type first): PREHISTORIC CAIRN Description: Robbed cairn, 16m in diameter, on the summit of an un-named peak, 1657ft high. (Crew, 1979) Sources: Crew, P., 1979, Cairn, Tyriau Mawr, Archaeology in Wales: Vol. 19: p. 18 Ordnance Survey , 1980 , SH61SE 34 , " |
Posted by GLADMAN9th November 2010ce Edited 13th January 2024ce |
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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? |
Posted by GLADMAN 7th November 2009ce Edited 20th January 2024ce |
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Twll yr Ogof and Craig-y-Llyn, western Cadair IdrisSearching - unsuccessfully, I might add - for the cairn cited by GAT as existing at SH65141153, I decided to mask my disappointment (and then some!) by carrying on to revisit the great Twll yr Ogof. Rude not to. |
Posted by GLADMAN 13th January 2024ce Edited 13th January 2024ce |
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