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Wales
Mynydd CarningliSacred Hill
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Sites in this group:
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5 posts
Carn Briw Round Cairn |
4 posts
Carn Edward Natural Rock Feature |
7 posts
Carn Edward II Hut Circle Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
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4 posts
Carn Ffoi Hillfort |
10 posts
Carn Ingli Camp Hillfort |
2 posts
Carn Llwyd IV Hut Circle Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
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2 posts
Carn Llwyd VII Hut Circle Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
3 posts
Carn Llwyd VI Hut Circle Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork |
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Fieldnotes |
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Been doing a lot of walking on Carningli lately, and am now convinced that there are at least 12 Bronze Age dwellings there, mostly on the north flank, but with one small cluster (3 huts?) on the southern slope of the mountain. There is fantastic new imagery on Google (satellite images) with 2007 imagery -- much more detailed that what was there before. Most of the hut circles show up very clearly. in addition to the dwelling huts there are abundant stone takes, clearance cairns, trackways, entrenched tracks, standing stones, stone walls, ring cairns, paddocks etc -- and one burial cairn at Carn Briw. This was clearly a key Bronze Age settlement site -- probably much more important than the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli around Carn Meini and Foeldrygarn. Proximity to the sea and to a good fishing river might have had something to do with it? The Iron Age community that lived in the Carningli "village" within the hillfort was much larger, and lived in a defended clustered settlement. I have posted a new map of the hillfort here: http://homepage.mac.com/brianjohn4/PhotoAlbum13.html and a photo gallery of prehistoric Carningli here: http://www.brianjohn.f2s.com/carningli2.html |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
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I had wanted to climb this vast and imposing mountain during our holiday, but the road to relaxation is paved with good intentions (or something like that). Looking up at its towering bulk, and its relationship to the surrounding countryside, it's easy to see why the mantle of sacred hill would be bestowed on it, and probably a very long time before St. Brynach hove into view. The translation of 'Carn Ingli' is literally 'The Mountain of Angels', after the Celtic St. Brynach experienced visions and conversations with angels there. This extinct volcano, sporting a huge and wonderful craggy outcrop, is home to an Iron Age hillfort, and various settlements and enclosures. This post appears as part of the weblog entry Preseli's Prehistoric Paradise
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Posted by treaclechops31st August 2003ce Edited 25th April 2004ce |
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A truly holy place, I climbed it twice while on holiday in Wales, once in the daytime and once at night. The steady climb gets steep at the top, ending in a scramble to the summit. Just before the very top there's an amazing circle of grass providing shelter from the prevailing wind... this must be where St Brynach slept. It's a fantastic view, over there at the bottom of the mount is Newport, the river, the mudflats and the sea. Up the river there's the Gwaun valley and right over there are the twin mounts (can't remember what they're called now) just near White Sands (nr. St Davids). It's very strange, almost eerie if it wasn't so calming, a little like being in a beautiful cathedral. All is calm, which was the case also when I climbed it at night. The mists rose and nothing was visible, just a shining sea of moonlit cloud hanging in the valley below. The holiest mountain I've climbed so far... |
Posted by matt 25th July 2003ce Edited 27th July 2003ce |
Folklore |
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This site has a mass of folklore attached to it. I've tried to capture the "magic" of the mountain in the six novels of the Angel Mountain Saga (published 2001-2007) in which the heroine, Martha Morgan, has frequent encounters with the supernatural and has a very special relationship with the mountain. The mountain is, in effect, a character in the story. More info: http://www.brianjohn.f2s.com/index.html http://www.angel-mountain.info/index.html |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
In the book Saints and Stones (ISBN 1-84323-124-7) Davies and Eastham give an account of the life of the St Brynach, a Celtic Christian who lived during the 6th Century and became a victim of his own success:Eventually, so many people became disciples of the saint that he sought refuge in a cave on Carn Ingli - the Mount of Angels - above Nevern, where he would converse with divine messengers. |
Posted by Kammer25th June 2004ce Edited 25th June 2004ce |
Miscellaneous |
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Carn Ingli is actually an extinct volcano and utterly dominates the landscape around Newport and beyond. Traces of its violent, landscape-sculpting past are evident on the beaches at Parrog and Newport Sands, in the form of dark sand… surely a combination of both the fine weathering of the local slate and from lava floes? On it there are hut circles, enclosures and relics left by our ancestors, now only inhabited by sheep. Carn Ingli looms over the Nevern river estuary from perhaps where the bluestones of Stonehenge were once floated down towards the sea on their journey to Wiltshire? |
Posted by Jane31st May 2003ce Edited 4th May 2004ce |
| Haven't seen the archaelogical report myself, but apparently they found hemp seeds up here. "Hill of the Angels" indeed! |
Posted by RiotGibbon 20th August 2001ce Edited 6th January 2003ce |
Links |
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Carningli Bronze Age roundhousePreviously unrecorded Bronze Age (?) roundhouse on the flank of Carningli, discovered Spring 2008. Other traces in the immediate vicinity suggest it was the centre of a farmstead, with storage huts, paddocks, trackways etc associated. |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carningli prehistory bookNew heavily-illustrated book about the prehistory of Carningli, published 2008. |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carningli HillfortMap made by Brian John, after Hogg and others -- info added 2007 and 2008 |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
The Sons of T C LethbridgeWelbourn Tekh wonders if visions of angels on the mountain derive from the 'brocken spectre' illusion.. |
Posted by Rhiannon12th June 2006ce Edited 12th June 2006ce |
Latest posts for Mynydd Carningli |
Showing 1-10 of 37 posts. Most recent first | Next 10 
Carn Edward (Natural Rock Feature) — Images (click to view fullsize) |
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Posted by mountainman 31st May 2008ce |
Carn Ingli Camp (Hillfort) — Images |
 
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Posted by mountainman 30th May 2008ce |
Carn Ffoi (Hillfort) — Fieldnotes |
| This is a very simple hillfort -- maybe related to Carningli in some way? There is just one defensive embankment, enclosing a small settlement site. Again the rocky crag itself has been used as a part of the defences. From the NW this defended site must have looked quite intimidating. According to legend, an Irish chieftain and his band lived here during the Age of the Saints. That's quite feasible -- and very handy for creating a spot of bother on the pilgrim route that ran along the coast from Nevern westwards towards St David's. |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carn Briw (Round Cairn) — Fieldnotes |
| Carn Briw has been very seriously messed about with, by walkers and children looking for something to do......... it was probably originally a conical mound, like many other Bronze Age burial cairns in this part of the world. There has been some recent burning to the north of the cairn, and now one can see clearly the "stone takes" from which stones and rubble were taken for the original construction of the mound. |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carn Edward (Natural Rock Feature) — Fieldnotes |
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Carn Edward roofed shelter? This isn't just a natural feature -- although it is a very beautiful tor. I recently discovered a very old curving stone wall on the downslope side of the eastern of the two rocky crags. This was either a sheepfold or -- more likely, I think -- a roofed-over shelter or small dwelling. There are several of these on Carningli -- where the rock face provides the shelter from the west, and where a semi-circular stone wall has been built to make a cost-effective shelter. There is one at Carn Enoch, another not far away beneath a small tor between Carn Edward and Carningli, and several on Carningli itself. There are others among the tors at the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli. How old are these features? My guess would be Bronze Age, but some could be Iron Age or even later. Maybe they were used as shepherd's shelters for more than two thousand years....... |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carn Ingli Camp (Hillfort) — Fieldnotes |
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I've been mapping the "camp" or hillfort for the last 12 month, using a base map from Hogg and also using Google satellite imagery and other published photos. A lot is visible just now, following extensive burning. My revised map is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carningli_hillfort This is a very spectacular and technically sophisticated hillfort, with features similar to Norman motte and bailey castles. The fort is on a rocky ridge, with a 'village" inside a pronounced defensive embankment at the NE end (the lee side of the mountain) and three connected enclosures or baileys at the SW end. On the SE face of the mountain natural cliffs and scree slopes are used as defences -- and on the NW side substantial defensive embankments have been built. The rocky summits of the mountain are the "motte" -- no doubt used as a last defensive position in case the defences were breached. The defensive embankments have been slighted -- when and why? |
Posted by mountainman 26th May 2008ce |
Carn Ffoi (Hillfort) — Fieldnotes |
| Visited 2nd May 2004: Not really a visit as such. Having visted a number of Carn Ingli sites we were heading for the beach when I took this. The stone ramparts are pretty clear, even from the road. I'd definately like to take a closer look. |
Posted by Kammer 29th October 2004ce |
Carn Ffoi (Hillfort) — Images |
 
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Posted by Kammer 29th October 2004ce |
Showing 1-10 of 37 posts. Most recent first | Next 10
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