Latest Fieldnotes

This cairn lies a little downhill from, and to the approx south-west of the 1,765ft summit of Esgair y Llwyn (’ridge of the grove / bush’ ... an indication of how the topography of Y Elenydd has changed over the years, I guess, since tussocky grass reigns supreme nowadays). It is not indicated upon either the current 1:25K or 1:50K OS maps.

As I approach, the initial impression is that of modern ‘marker cairn’ occupying a classic Bronze Age location overlooking the Afon Elan, arguably the finest such position in the immediate locality. Pity. However, what’s this? Yeah, closer inspection strongly suggests – to myself, as well as (retrospectively) Coflein – that, although the marker cairn is no doubt modern, it is actually set upon a much larger, grassy footprint of probable ancient origin. What other credible explanation is there up here upon such an obscure hill? Furthermore, it could be argued that the ‘greener cairn’s’ circumference is, albeit intermittently, defined by traces of a kerb.

To be honest I wish I had more time to spend here, the vista south beyond Pont ar Elan toward the Graig Goch Reservoir and Cwmdeuddwr skyline proving to be excellent, as is that looking north-west to the Gors Lwyd wetlands and distant Pen-y-Garn. However I’ve promised myself a short sojourn at the superb Rhiw Afon cairn before the final descent back down to Pen-yr-ochr farm.... such is life.

Needless to say Banc Cynnydd is not at all bad for a bonus site and, in my opinion well worth primary focus. From the south, perhaps? I would say instinct brought me here. But there are enough gobshites in this world already, thank you very much.

September 2013

This is a difficult walk in whatever point you start from and these particular Galloway Hills are an unforgiving bunch. Our route took us in from the car park at Kirriereoch, a good march into the hinterland on former forestry tracks, then out onto the great long whaleback of Kirriereoch Hill via a series of ever diminishing and deteriorating sheep paths. About 1800 feet up Kirriereoch a tremendous stone wall begins. The stones are enormous. We saw one which was the size of a small car. Story says the wall was meant to delineate the old Ayrshire – Galloway county border and the wall appears to be of some great age. After the superhuman effort put into its construction it is a pity so few people have ever seen it. After topping Kirriereoch Hill we took a steep descent following a much smaller wall which wound us down 1500 feet to the tiny lochan of Loch Twachtan (careful now!). Twachtan’s population of trout have been completely isolated since the last Ice Age by a few steep waterfalls.
Time limits meant we only had twenty minutes to catch the allotted number of specimens for a Fishery Research Project we’ve been involved in for a number of years. We hit the fishy target at 19 minutes paused for breath, a five minute breather, a sandwich and some juice. Then with our work done we pressed on to the social part of the journey, we were going to visit on The Grey Man of Merrick.
Progress across the morass between Twachtan, Munshalloch and the Howe of The Cauldron was very slow. Legs plunged deep into peat bog and despite clinging to the winding stone wall for guidance, low cloud sometime erased all views, the weather closed in and at times we thought we were past the crag we wanted to see. But we needed to hit Loch Enoch first. Loch Enoch had its own distinctive and unique family of trout until the end of the 19th Century when Victorian-Era Acid Rain killed the loch (and many other Galloway Lochs). This loch was restocked over the latter half of the 20th Century and has recovered well.
After edging round the shining gravel shores of Enoch we hit another wall and struck off towards the Grey Man. After a few hundred yards we took the small path off to the right and our target drew into sight.
The Grey Man is a spectacular feature. It works from both sides and its scale is spectacular. Return took us down past Loch Neldricken and Loch Valley to Loch Trool and the second car. Oops did I mention you’d need to do a 2-car job to take this one in? You don’t actually need to... but it is advisable. Good luck y’all!

Less than 300 yds – I think – to the approx NW of the shattered Carn Wen stands this beauty near the ‘brook of the fold’. An historic reference to sheep husbandry, perhaps? Carn Nant-y-Ffald is by no means a massive monument, but, for me, possesses an inherent quality that is not immediately apparent during the short approach walk from its dishevelled neighbour. The grassy cairn is well defined and shapely. However there’s more, the centre possessing a well preserved cist – albeit lacking capstone(s) – shielded by a small dry stone sheep shelter. Yeah, that’ll do nicely... well, at least the former, although the shelter is perhaps appropriate, bearing in mind the nomenclature.

The location is archetypal of Y Elenydd, the monument set upon a bare, windswept ridge that, even when basking beneath today’s periodic blue skies, or illuminated by sunbursts, exudes a somewhat primeval, potentially malevolent vibe. Yeah, this is a brutal, unforgiving landscape. In some ways perhaps that is one of its key attributes.... the area representing an ever-shrinking oasis of unpredictable wilderness within a cultural desert of pre-programmed ‘life experiences’. Or something like that. Anyway... by all accounts the modern world seems to have passed Carn Nant-y-ffald by. Consider Coflein’s RCAHMW field report from 1913... when the monument was described as:

“... a grass-covered stone mound.. some stone protruding through the vegetation. Some cairn material has been used to construct a sheep shelter.. enclosing the open central cist, which survives in remarkably good condition...1.3m east to west by 0.6m and..0.4m deep. It is stone-lined and of solid construction, but its covering stone or stones are no longer present. [RCAHMW 1913]”

As I said, very little seems to have changed upon this hill side in the intervening years. Odd, when you consider it. As I sit and ponder... the aforementioned vibe works upon my consciousness and I subsequently decide to have a wander westwards along the ridge (Gwar y Ty), veering south toward Esgair y Llwyn, searching for views. It seems like the only proper thing to do. How was I to know that Banc Cynnydd also possessed a probable Bronze Age cairn not marked on the map? How, indeed? Well, for what it’s worth, it’s where I’d have put one, overlooking the Afon Elan.

A short, steep onward climb from the mightily impressive Rhiw Afon cairn brings me to the ‘White Cairn’, although, to be fair, ‘Grey Cairn’ would arguably have been more appropriate. Sadly the monument has been well and truly trashed, any lingering remnant of internal detail now lost for ever through the superimposition of a parasitic dry stone shelter. Whether my assumption that the latter was probably erected for the benefit of sheep – those of the Ovis genus, that is, and not ill-equipped walking muppets – makes it any more palatable is perhaps a moot point. The damage has been done, regardless.

Nevertheless enough remains to encourage the visitor to focus upon the positives, to look on the bright side in true Eric Idlian style. Yeah, according to Coflein the monument is:

“A disturbed, grass-covered, stone cairn, which is still a prominent landscape feature, partly due to the use of the cairn material to build a solid stone shelter... Nevertheless the essential form of the cairn is still easily understood being a stone cairn 14m in diameter and a little over 0.5m high [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 8/9/09].”

Mutilation, hey, desecration notwithstanding, the monument is still a substantial stone pile affording a superb view looking south toward the Graig Goch Reservoir and the (relative to these parts) high peaks of Cwmdeuddwr. Not that the cairn’s founders would have recognised it, of course! The primary focus here is upon the sky, an impressive cloudscape providing welcome definition to what is all too often a featureless, opaque, grey mass of vapour. But not today. No, today I feel an overwhelming sense of ‘space’, – of place – of being but a small component of a very large ‘whole’ indeed. Hey, an infinitely large cosmos! The Great Outdoors, to coin a phrase.

As I sit and ponder a-while the eyes are inevitably drawn to the approx north-west where another, seemingly minor cairn stands some distance away across rough.... very rough... grassland. Checking the map I reckon this must be Carn Nant-y-ffald.... (you don’t say Sherlock?) and, since the ‘burial chamber’ mentioned by the farmer at Pen-yr-Ochr has yet to manifest itself, I guess it must be there. No rest for the inquisitive, then.

Awaking to a (rare) fine dawn upon the Elenydd, the myriad green hills overlooking – not to mention channelling the area’s copious rainfall into – the picturesque Elan Valley reservoirs was not what I envisaged today. But there you are, the complete closure of the Tal-y-Bont/Ponterwyd road across Pumlumon yesterday afternoon (and for much of September, as it happens) dictated otherwise. Such is life. But hey, there are much worse places to be.... particularly since, for once, I’ve a walk lined up on my ‘list’ should the opportunity arise. In retrospect, however, taking the very minor, exceedingly narrow road following the western bank of the River Wye north-west from the hamlet of Dderw was not the best of options, the road barred by four gates. Yeah, it does become tedious, so suggest the A470 in lieu. Thankfully, however, I meet no one coming the other way and duly arrive none the worse for wear at a T-junction, the road branching left to the farm of Pen-yr-Ochr, right to (eventually) join the A470. I decide to park here and am just locking up when the farmer materialises at the wheel of a massive lorry.... and, upon hearing my intended destination, rhetorically ‘suggests’ I would be better off parking within his yard. Don’t mind if I do, my friend.

The gentleman is clearly very proud of his cairns and enthusiastically furnishes directions... which of course I inevitably make a hash of, the traveller obliged to revert to the map regardless. To cut a long story short (as Tony Hadley once crooned) I would recommend keeping with the official track shown on the map, so avoiding the very steep ascent to the summit of Cefn Bach I undertake. The mocking irony of the ‘Small Ridge’ translation was noted as my dodgy ribs ensured I made very hard work of these ‘mere hills’. Yeah, don’t listen to the muppets who delight in telling you Mid Wales is not worth the effort. What bollocks. Bronze Age humankind knew better, for a start.

The compass sorts out the confusion, the first of a quartet of monuments visible below to the approx north-east. The location is understated, yet exquisite, the cairn commanding a magnificent vista of – indeed focussed upon – the River Wye. Seems the Pumlumon connection is established after all. What’s more, the monument appears more or less intact, a small, presumably modern marker cairn a minor irritation. According to Coflein:

“A well-preserved stone cairn, measuring 9.25m in diameter and up to 0.75m high.... There is a slight dish in the centre of the mound, possibly an original characteristic. It does not appear that the cairn has been disturbed to any great extent....” [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 8/9/09]

The lack of pretension is striking, the monument subservient to the surrounding hills, but all the more poignant for that. I resolve to stop and hang out for a while more upon my return... but, for now, the higher cairns call.

We parked the car at Nant y Coed nature reserve after a  bit of a hit and miss affair to get there. The Afon Llanfairfechan runs through it very prettily and we follow it for a while until we come across a path that goes up, up is where the settlement is so we go that way. We could have come at it from the gentler eastern side but it’s a long walk in so we plumped for the direct approach, which is something of a past time for me, seeing what it would be like for any would be attackers.

The path that goes up is in a very nice wooded area, it’s very thin and steep on both sides, I do like a daring foot path. Until that is we come across a sign saying No access to Dinas, never a good thing.
We carried on the thin path until it comes out of the wood, jumped a wall, which isn’t easy with two small dogs, then made our way up a grassy slope up to the wall that’s half way up. From there it is all big stony scree, i’m afraid to say that at this time I became a bad dad, I’m fairly used to such climbs I can walk up it like i’m on stairs, but Eric was scared, Arthur the Jack Russell wouldn’t move until he got proper directions from someone who is less frightened than him, then he got upset. So we sat for a while whilst I reassured him, then I took both dogs and once more led the way.
A minute or two later we arrived at the top, and Eric had a go at me when he saw how much easier the eastern way was, but it’s ten times further I told him, this seemed to placate him but for the next ten minutes he had a moody look to him.

We sat for those ten minutes in silence taking in the sea and mountain air, surveying the splendid scenery afforded by being high up. This settlement, one cant really call it a fort, occupies a fantastic and very strategic position. From here we can see North all the way to the other side of Angelsey, Holyhead mountain sticking out like a sore thumb. West is hills and scattered over them are cup marked boulders and outcrops, arrow stones, cairns and more hut circles than you can shake a divining rod at, if you should need to. South is the mountains, and Bwlch y Ddeufaen with much stony goodness beyond it’s portals,and east is more hills but with Druids circles, cairns, cists and all that is there. You can see it all from Dinas.

The settlement is, very eroded, but still enough remains to be glad one made the effort of getting up here, it’s not as good as the brilliant examples of hill top settlements on the lleyn peninsula, but i’m not there, i’m here, and at that moment, here is all we need.
There are maybe ten huts on the hill top itself, and another half dozen at least strewn around the grassy fields east of the iron age village, there’s even a couple of barrows. The hill top huts are very close together and right on the edge of the steep drop down to the river, their closeness reminded me of Scara Brae, this would have been one close knit community. After many photos and much surveying the area we have run out of time, we descend the hill on it’s south side til we get to a wall, we follow it and it in turn leads us to another wall, I surmise the No access to Dinas sign will not be far away, then Eric says “hey look where we are”.
The rest, as they say is history.
Sorry couldn’t think of a decent way to end.

10/11/2013 – We took the alternative path as suggested in Les’s fieldnotes (thanks). Starting from Forgue, it’s a nice mile or so walk through a wood to the circle. The trees look so lovely at this time of year and we even had some sunshine. The circle is not too hard to find just off the path. The recumbent looked quite sad with bits of it lying all around. It must have been quite fantastic in its day though. Flankers and a couple of other stones are still there, if a little hidden in the undergrowth. I liked this circle. Not a must see but a fine way to spend a morning.

Follow directions for Carnedd y Saeson. Park in the car park at the end of the lane, in front of you up the hill is the aforementioned cairn but back down the road and over the left hand wall is another fine cairn. You wont spot it from in the car, the wall’s too high, unless your in a land rover or the like.
Getting over the wall isn’t that easy, on top of it is a wire fence, but once over everything is just tickety boo.
Id only seen this cairn on Google street view, a very handy tool for looking about, but all’s I could see was stones, but that’s enough for me, so here I am.
As I approached it looked like a good cairn, wide, quite high with good views, but it soon got better. In the middle of the cairn is a very big long stone, right next to what I took to be the cist. But the stone looks far too big to be a simple cist cover, it looks more like a former standing stone, fallen, then dragged off into the annoying pile of stones.
But I doubt it.
What ever the stone is the cairn is in a striking position, overlooking the river Anafon, and overlooked by mountains, and with a distant view over the Straits to Anglesey this is one of the best cairns on the North coast.
In the next field, actually the same field as there is no divide is another cairn, but I didn’t have time to get a good look at it as the big cairn was so engaging, it looks smaller, and less interesting, but i’ll have another look next time i’m up here.
Very good !!!

All along the North coast of Wales there are many ancient sites, masses of hill forts, a thousand cairns, even the second biggest man made mound in Britain, but it is the Druids circle that shines out most to me. But a close second is this place, Carnedd y Saeson, very overlooked, mostly ignored, but highly entertaining.
Two concentric circles of small stones, with a large displaced cist capstone in the middle. Marked on the map as just one in a group of nondescript cairns, but this is no spread of loose stones, if it were cleared and tidied of all the choking gorse bushes it would not look out of place on Dartmoor, with it’s big cist and surrounding stone circle. So to that end I shall be trying to get up here a bit more often, with my shears and flick saw and see if I cant make it a bit more visitor friendly and to finally see the whole thing. Unless anyone has any reservations.

Next to Brochs souterrains are pretty cool (in both meanings of the word) and this one, as Rhiannon suggests is superb. We had been trying to get around to a visit for a couple of years and as the photos suggest we managed to take a peek.
I believe it is possible to walk from Kingussie but we took the lazy option and took the farm track off the A9 and parked at a place suggested by the homemade P for parking sign.
It’s a short walk following the track and across a field to the site. The souterrain is much as described, crescent shaped and quite large. Unfortunately the middle section has collapsed and been robbed away, a shame but this does permit a closer examination of the construction method.
At the time of our visit (November) the backdrop to the site was a snow covered Cairngorm, this site is well worth a look.

The day was bright and having found a place to park up we set off over the wild heathland behind Studland and meandered our way through muddy lanes and low trees. We’d just stumbled on some of the best cep mushrooms we’d ever found when Mrs. C looked up and suddenly exclaimed “Is that it?” pointing through the undergrowth to a monstrous boulder on the horizon. And there it was, looking completely out of place and out of scale with its surroundings, more like Dartmoor than Dorset.

Having lived 3 years of my life in relatively close proximity to this amazing natural feature I was surprised that I’d never heard of it, let alone seen it and I’d been anticipating something much smaller like a gnarled old standing stone. As we got closer we noticed that we weren’t alone. There was a climber there, which slightly annoyed me, and for the first half an hour we had to endure this annoying twat doing the same clumsy climb over and over again. Well I guess that’s what sandwiches were invented for and eventually he got bored and fell off (or did I push him?) and we had the place to ourselves.

It really is awe-inspiring in its size and sheer strangeness and really looks otherworldly, like an organic UFO that’s crashed into a small hill. If you’d lived in this area thousands of years ago how could you not venerate it, there’s nothing like it for miles around and it’s set off with that glorious view over Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island. Even the hillock on which it stands doesn’t seem entirely natural, though to be fair there are other smaller hillocks thereabouts, some of them perhaps man-made.

This stone is a doddle to find, at the meeting of two paths/tracks/roads with Arrow stones and cairns also very close by.
I wonder if Idwal got any feedback from the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust or if he contacted them at all. I’m quite convinced about it, but only quite. There is another stone about twenty yards away, of which Ive included a couple of pictures of it. Both stones seem to have some smaller stones at it’s base but without digging impossible to tell if their packing stones

Ok, so this is as far east as we go. If you don’t have a compass, and cant take a bearing, just locate granite pillar number 7, from there the arrow stone is the biggest, flattest, most art worthy stone you can see, Eric and me went straight to it.

There seemed to be more incisions on this stone than the two we’d already passed, I hadn’t been measuring the length of the incisions so I didn’t notice that they were shorter, consequently I didn’t have any doubts about it’s authenticity.

How ever, I didn’t know about the concentric square motif just a short distance down hill, or rather I did but didn’t know it was here or I would have looked for and found it.
Oh well, like all good places, just once is never enough.

These two Arrow stones would be as far east as we were going, from here I can see distant Moelfre and the saddle where Cefn Coch the very good cairn is, closer to is Dinas, iron age settlement, somewhere closer to me from there is Garreg Fawr cup marked stone. Swinging right to look east is Bwlch Y ddeufaen the pass through the hills that leads to new vistas and many top ancient sites.

This arrow stone was quite easy to find, it’s more or less right under the pylon wires. But when we looked at the stone I prematurely decided this wasn’t the stone I was looking for, the grooves on it were much rougher, less defined, too natural looking, glacial I decided, and walked off to find the real one.
So I found the arrow stone without realising it, I even at Eric’s behest took a photo anyway, more of Bwlch y Ddeufaen than the arrow stone. Then I got home looked more closer at the map made up with Coflein and found out that this is the one, or this is one of the two.

Two substantial round barrows crown the large summit plateau of Bryn y Fedwen providing (on an unexpectedly fine morning such as this, anyway) wondrous panoramic views to the north and north-west of Cadair Idris and southern Snowdonia. Assuming my understanding of the vernacular is not that limited, it wasn’t always such a great viewpoint, the reference to birch trees (I think) suggesting a fundamentally different prevailing landscape context in the past. I find it difficult to visualise. But there you are. Times change. Nevertheless the traveller is here presented with an opportunity to experience an excellent upland vibe with relatively little effort, the latter courtesy of the minor road which traverses the moorland to the west before sharply descending the escarpment edge. It is possible to leave a car at the entrance to the impressive Glaslyn nature reserve (needless to say don’t block the cattle grid like the mindless muppet I encountered).... and simply step over the fence across the road. If not, try the Vaughan-Thomas memorial a little further down the road (not forgetting to tip your hat in posthumous tribute to a true outdoorsman and raconteur) where it is ‘just’ possible. Incidentally this is also a convenient starting point for an ascent of Foel Fadian, the shapely mini-mountain featuring a large barrow mid-way along its eastern flank.... and a quite wondrous skyline of Pumlumon rising across Uwch y Coed and Glaslyn.

Anyway, I digress. The ascent of Bryn y Fedwen from the road is short, the angle of attack shallow, an audience with the first of the barrows soon attained. According to Coflein this measures “20m by 18m and 1.5m high, foreshortened to the NW by a track and bearing the scars of excavation, an inurned cremation being recorded in 1938 [J.Wiles 15.04.02].” So, no doubt about this being the ‘real deal’, then. The monument is surmounted by a standing stone almost obscured by the long grass which, unfortunately, turns out to be a boundary marker. Shame, but not unexpected in these parts.

A touch of low cloud, formed by temperature inversion, begins to peel away from Cadair Idris resplendent upon the northern horizon. Closer to hand Foel Fadian lies enticingly to the immediate west, its barrow particularly well defined from here. I quickly come to the conclusion that a visit is required later, a brief interlude at the Gladmobile to replenish coffee stocks notwithstanding. In the interim there is also the magnificent vista of Pumlumon to enjoy prior to the gaze being duly drawn to the east to focus upon the second round barrow to grace this hill top. The short walk across the intervening distance requires negotiating another low fence (or perhaps two?) but, despite the damage suffered by the monument, it is worth the effort. Again according to Coflein... this barrow is actually a little taller than its western neighbour, but, in my opinion, less upstanding. If that makes any sense? Probably not. Anyway the dimensions are given as “18m in diameter & 1.7m high”, the monument “...devastated by profitless excavation.” Well, one out of two aint bad.

As I sit and revel in the conditions upon my little hill top, convex, grassy contours within pastureland to the south-east suggest to me the possibility that Bryn y Fedwen’s Bronze Age cemetery was once more extensive than currently supposed. Whatever, I leave Bryn y Fedwen impressed by what I consider an important addition to the Pumlumon prehistoric canon.

Visited 28th October 2013

Another great find we weren’t even looking for. On our way back to the house after an afternoon at Lochmariquer we happened upon a sign to this dolmen off the C2 near La Chapelle Neuve. A woodland parking area (these places now all seeming very familiar) leads to a short walk through the trees, before another small sign guides us to the right, and into a clearing where stands one of the most perfect dolmens you could ever ask to see.

As we approach the dolmen the temperature drops markedly. Now although it is 5.30pm and evening is approaching it was noticeably warmer along the woodland path than it is in proximity to the dolmen. There is a real feeling of presence here, the atmosphere almost tangible, but not in any kind of sinister way. As I crouch in the chamber warmth returns, and it feels welcome, a thick carpet of leaves crunching beneath my feet, and the sheltering trees sighing in the insubstantial breeze.

Three orthostats support a large capstone, the chamber opening to the east and the rising sun. Much of the now denuded mound which once covered the dolmen remains and is still visible, the chamber hunkered within it, giving a good impression, almost like a cut away model, of how these places were constructed. The information board says that simple beaker like pottery was found within, and dated to between 2,400 – 2,200 BCE.

I’m in love with this place, it’s just such a perfect dolmen, like a text book representation of the form, and seemingly obscure, I couldn’t find any reference to it in the books I had with me. Dusk is starting to fall now or I would have stayed longer, but with the sat-nav co-ordinates for the site now locked in, and with the knowledge that it is a mere three miles from our cottage, I vow to return before we have to travel back to England.

Visited 28th October 2013

Engaging in the celebrated Breton sport of randomly driving around until you happen across a megalith (not that hard to do), eagle-eyed Ellen spotted a small brown sign with the legend ‘allee couvert’ at the side of the road as we shot past, “Isn’t that one of those passage tombs?” she said, cueing a quick application of brakes and a swift reverse to the small parking spot next to some well manicured grass and a rubbish bin.

Checking the map I found we were on the D168, just north of Malestroit, but I couldn’t find any reference to this site in any of the books I had with me, even the mighty Burl didn’t mention the place, so it was with mounting excitement at not knowing exactly what we’d find that we commenced a walk along the obvious track from the parking spot into the unknown.

The path is bordered on one side by woodland, and on the other by a field, and shortly a long jumble of stones is visible ahead, and we find something far beyond expectation. The allee couverte, although ruinous, is huge, at 25 meters in length, it is the longest in Morbihan. It is also rare in having, according to the information board, a side entrance in the middle of the south wall, rather than the passage being open from the end, but in its somewhat ruinous state, it’s difficult to make out exactly where the entryway would have been. The stones protrude like spiny vertebrae, a sleeping dragon beneath the earth, the echo of the grand burial mound that must once have sat here still visible.

Once again the site is enhanced by its woodland surroundings, it has a bit of a feel of Wayland’s Smithy to it, although being totally different in design to that place. The raw size of the site also impresses, and to find it just sitting here, with no fanfare, only serves to underline just how many megalithic remains are scattered across Brittany.

I spend some time pacing around trying to photograph the site from every conceivable angle, but its sheer size makes getting everything in shot very difficult. It’s peaceful here, and conducive to spending some time, but clouds on the horizon are blowing in, the winds still gusting strongly after last night’s storm, so we know soon it will be time to move on. A poke about further down the path shows a number of large rocks lying around prone, seemingly of the same type of stone as the orthostats of the allee couvert, whether they were once part of it, or more likely a source of stone for the building of the monument I’m not sure.

I’m pleased to have come across this place, an unexpected gem of a find, and one of the reasons I love Brittany, where else could you just stumble across such a megalith?

The adjective ‘obscure’ could well have been devised for the location of this long cairn, although, to be fair, much of the ‘secret garden’ vibe is no doubt due to the wooded environs.... and the fact that the monument is conspicuous by its absence from both the 1:50K and 1:25K OS maps. This is not a site to accidentally stumble across on walkabout (although stumble the visitor will, believe me) but instead a temporary haven from the more annoying manifestations of what we term the ‘modern world’. Yeah, I would rate the chance of an undisturbed hang here close to 100%, since I reckon even the Coflein people must’ve sourced local knowledge to find it. Surely? As for myself... I simply asked the Postman.

It is true to say that the locality does not exactly display a paucity of Bronze Age and Iron Age sites. Oh no. A little to the approx NE a cluster of round barrows duly, well, cluster around the small village of Staylittle, whilst the looming, soggy heights of Pumlumon – Itself – are crowned with perhaps the finest extended concentration of upland cairns in the UK. There are hill forts and lesser enclosures, too. But what of the Neolithic, you may ask? Well....the long cairn is set in a classic location for the type, a short distance east of Cwmbiga Farm overlooking the Afon Biga, one of the lesser rivers sourced upon the aforementioned ‘Mother of Rivers’. There are, er, others. Only a couple of hundred yards from the road it may be, but to all intents and purposes it might as well be on the moon for all the likelihood of a casual visitor venturing here. Needless to say Michael Stipe won’t be coming, then. Pity.

Speaking of REM, assuming you manage to cross the ridiculously mossy ‘lost world’ landscape eloquently described by Postman and actually locate the monument, the vibe here is so ethereal the scope for day dreaming is extensive, to say the least. I’ve no idea how long the Hafren Forest has hidden the long cairn from prying eyes, but assume such a state of affairs was not the original builders’ collective intention, something the visitor should take into account. Nevertheless the cairn’s grassy ‘crust’ suggests it’s been a while; in fact only a couple of (excavation?) pits and a small area of stone breaking the green mantle confirm that this is indeed a cairn. Definitely a long one, too.

So.... visitors in search of high drama should look elsewhere. Hey, venture up to one of Pumlumon’s great round cairns, why don’t you? But if an understated, slumbering woodland vibe appeals, make your way to Cwmbiga Farm and follow the southern bank of the Afon Biga – very, very rough going – to the approx east. The monument is not obvious, but isn’t that all part of the appeal?

Not far down the track east from the cairn that is called Cairn NNW of Foel Ganol is this other in someways better cairn, who’s name cant escape me. A few hundred yards separate them, and many ruined structures and many many random and stray stones, the whole hillside seems to be liberally covered with stones.
This cairn is perhaps slightly smaller than its western sibling at 7 meters wide and 0.6 meters high, but it enjoys much the same view, which is moorland-Strait-Angelsey, nice.
It sits on a slight ridge in a bowl created by the shape of the near hills, a natural amphitheater from which to fling ones arms wide and howl into the night, or grumble in the drizzle about bloody kids and such.
Coflein says of the cairn that some kerb stones are still visible and the remains of a cist and even a capstone occupy the cairns center, unfortunately the undergrowth is still quite high and with child and dogs always wanting to go go go I didn’t have time to give it the attention it deserves, but now I have another reason to return to the area.

Found just over eight years ago grid ref approx , grooves 10cms long x 4mm deep .

Found about six yeras ago , didn’t take grid ref so only approximate

Coflein and myself are once more friends again, to seal the friendship they divulged this little nugget of information about this prominent cairn.....Cairn NNW of Foel Ganol at 1000ft above sea level. A circular mound of stones, 45ft in diameter and 3ft high on ground sloping to the N. Irregular hollows in the mound are probably the result of casual digging.

Casual digging ? I ask you.

Not far down the track from Foel Dduarth Arrow stone, and only ten minutes from the national wonder that is Carnedd y Saeson. In fact there are cairns, Arrow stones, possible standing stones, and habitation sites from many periods. This is a place heaving with history. Also there are the views across the Straits to Angelsey, and in the opposite direction the ground goes up and up, which is always nice, and enticing, but i’m saving our upping for somewhere else.

Just a couple hundred yards from Hafod Gelyn cairns is this Arrow stone, there are quite a few round here and this is a good example. Eric, the dogs and I entered the area where I knew it would be, I said to the lad look for a quite a big stone with lines carved onto it. Five seconds later “is this it ?”
It most certainly was, no time wasting here.

When Idwal came here he mustn’t have had his glasses on because he saw the letters RRP carved amid the lines, but there is more, it isn’t just initials but a whole name R R PENLAND. How rude.

Just what are they though ? Arrow stones ? presumably so called because the stone was used to sharpen arrow heads. But really ?
I haven’t heard a single explanation that sits well, are they even properly ancient, who knows, not me, or anyone it seems. Geeeooorge !!!

Visited 27th October 2013

With Merlin being a major draw around these parts, this place is signposted almost as soon as you leave Paimpont (Brittany’s version of Glastonbury) on the Rue de l’enchanter Merlin (also known as the D71). When you do reach the ample car parking though don’t set off straight into the forest, but rather cross back over the road and take the tarmac cycle path, you’ll be at the tomb within minutes.

As we park the car we again encounter a large group of foragers emerging from the forest with baskets full of fungi, who within seconds identify us as ‘Anglais’ and with a friendly ‘bonjour’ start to gesture us in the opposite direction, over the road towards the tomb. Perhaps it was the camera, notebook and copy of Aubrey Burl’s ‘Megalthic Brittany’ I was clutching that gave it away?

In a land abundant with a cornucopia of spectacular megalithic remains, Merlin’s Tomb is like one of those sad hangers on, riding on the coat-tails of a famous name, whilst lacking the ability to be impressive in their own right.

The site consists of the slight remains of a ruined dolmen, little more than two cracked stones, out from which sprouts a holly tree. A modern circular kerb of stones has been set around the dolmen, and a plethora of offerings are crammed into any available crack in the stones, or tied as clooties to the holly tree, along with written messages to Merlin which are placed around the site. Someone had also placed halved apples at each quarter point of the kerb, possibly as part of an early Samhain ritual.

Just up the path from the tomb is the Fountain of Youth, a sluggish pool, which looked as if eternal youth would arise from failing to get any older on account of having died due to contracting some virulent form of dysentery upon drinking the water.
Compared to even the lesser of Brittany’s megaliths this is somewhat uninspiring, but yet the place has a certain charisma. In a way the adoption of the site as a focal point for offerings gives the site a resonance it was probably previously lacking, and in the usual surroundings of lovely Breton woodland, with the clootie bedecked holly tree sprouting from the stones it has a certain charm.

Although I may sound disparaging this is a nice place, just diminished by the embarrassment of megalithic riches just a stone’s throw (if you’ll pardon the pun) away. Still if you’re in Brocéliande you can’t not visit Merlin can you? Just be prepared that like some other iconic tourist stops, the reality of the place might not be quite as impressive as you expect.

Very close to Carnedd y Saeson and Foel Dduarth enclosure, but not nearly as good as either of them.
Coflein, bless them, have the cairn at twenty four feet across and two feet high, seemed slightly smaller to me. Overlooked by Foels Ganol and Dduarth the cairn is in a grand place, but the iron giants march along this old road somewhat spoiling the view. The cairn is all grassed over, there is supposed to be two here but I couldn’t see t’other one and as Coflein says they are with in a complex field system. Which they most certainly are, history never took a break round here, it just kept on going.
Not really much else can be said except two better cairns and some arrow stones are east from here along the same track.