CPAT description:
The cairn is relatively centrally placed on the level plateau of the spur. The site lies just to the NW of the confluence of two rivers, with the R Wye just to the east and the Hirnant to the west. The site is a low circular mound, partially turfed over but with much stone still evident. It appears to be formed of heaped stone with some recent additions, presumably from clearance. The upper surface is level, with no structural components visible (CPAT 2005).
Mr Cane was clearly on a bit of a downer following his visit here some years back now... hey, it happens, doesn’t it just? However, since the vegetation (judging by his images) was fortunately less overwhelming during my early Spring sojourn, I found myself in a position to disagree. Yeah, I liked it here and would recommend coming, this despite the woods proving a lot more popular with (non-antiquarian-minded) folk than I had anticipated.
Indeed, the eastern of the southern pair (of those monuments marked upon the map, that is – there are, apparently, a further three within the environs of West Wood not troubling the cartographers for whatever reason) is a particularly fine specimen of a bowl barrow, complete with encircling ditch. Its neighbour to the west, although not of comparable stature, is pretty substantial, too... the northernmost example, completing the OS annotated trio, slightly less so.
Access is straighforward from the B2068 – a Roman Road, aka ‘Stone Street’ – although the downside to that demonstrable obsession with ‘straightness’ is the traffic fair motors past; hence, there is some traffic noise to deny a perfect ambience. Note also that it is unwise to attempt to take a direct line (through the break in the trees) from the eastern of the southern pair of monuments to the western... if you value your legs, that is. Industrial-strength brambles all the way.
Incidentally, note that the round barrow at nearby Tumulus Farm (TR 13481 42341) is apparently of Roman origin. Sigh....
This site caught my eye while scanning the map for something to ‘bolster up’ a planned trip to not-too-distant West Wood... and turned out to be a first-class, primary visit, including possibly the finest surviving round barrows in Kent?
Unfortunately, however, there is a negative aspect: The Three Barrows are located immediately adjacent to the (cue drumroll)...’North Downs Way’, thus inevitably suffering from the attentions of plodding hikers ‘doing the way’/French tourists (judging by the language!) and, far more seriously, moronic trail bikers. Indeed, the ‘leader’ of one such group of ‘broom-broom-halfwits’ steadfastly refused to meet my gaze after I countered his ‘good morning’ with a cold, silent stare – hell, the fool damn well knew riding his farcical contraption here – to the detriment of everyone else – is out of order! It’s one thing to act like an idiot and not know any different – ‘stupid is as stupid does’, after all – but to realise you’re being stupid, yet carry on regardless, is surely beyond contempt? Shame on him and his kind.
Having said the above, however, Rubury Butts is still a great place to hang out for a while... since the very substantial northwestern monument is seriously overgrown, the summit a hidden haven of wondrousness.
Historic England summarises thus:
“The three bowl barrows known as Rubury Butts at Three Barrow Down, Womenswold, Kent lie at the convergence of the three parishes of Womenswold, Nonington and Shepherdswell in a lightly wooded copse adjacent to the North Downs Way. They were noted by the C18 antiquarian Bryan Faussett in his Inventorium Sepulchrale published in 1860 who believed that their name derived from ‘’Romes berig Butts’, meaning ‘ the butts at the Roman burial place’. Faussett undertook excavations of Anglo-Saxon burial sites at Golgotha, Shepherdswell and Barfrestone approximately 2km to the east and it is thought possible that these later monuments may have been positioned intentionally within the sight of the three earlier barrows. It is certainly the case that a resurgence of interest in barrow construction took place in the Iron Age, Romano-British, Anglo-Saxon and Viking periods when burials were made in ancient mounds or new mounds were constructed. Nationally barrows are known to have acted as Parish markers as in this case..... It is likely that the Rubury Butts bowl barrow cemetery is Bronze Age in origin.... The barrows are aligned in a row on a north-west to south-east axis approximately 5m apart. The northernmost barrow is 26m across and stands to 3.5m [c11.5ft – G] in height. The middle barrow is 14m wide and 1m high and the third, adjacent to the track, is ovoid in shape, approximately 21m wide and 1.9m [c6ft – G] high, eroded to the south-east by the track. None of the mounds have obvious ditches.”
From ‘Volpaire’ on Google Maps
Dan Clancy was a local man who grew up on Slievecorragh and often walked its slopes with his family.
Dan and his many siblings spent many happy childhood days there, and often went up in the evening to watch the sun set.
Clancy later emigrated to New York, where he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He passed away in 2004 at the young age of 31.
Following his death, his brother Andrew – a sculptor – created the chair as a memorial to Dan. Andrew Clancy, is said to have based it on one in the family kitchen.
There are many teddy bears left on the chair by hikers and those wishing to commemorate him. The ring on the chair and the original teddy bear were donated by Clancy’s partner in New York.
Coflein descriptions:
Western cairn (SH8010718561)
Located on the crest of a ridge. A cairn of stones and boulders, approx. 8m diameter, the edges part turf-covered. The centre was scooped out when a shooting butt was built inside it in the C19.
A ring cairn (300459) lies a short distance to the E.Recorded as part of RCAHMW Uplands Initiative Project, W B Horton, H&H, 12/10/2012.
Eastern ring cairn (SH8021218589)
A ring of stones 11.5m in diameter, 2m thick and 0.2m high. The ring of stones is well defined and has no gap. The interior is level and largely stone free. Approximately 100m to the W is another cairn (nprn 300458).
Recorded as part of RCAHMW Uplands Initiative Project, W B Horton, H&H, 15/10/2012.
Coflein description:
This is a small promontory fort crowning the highest northern spur of an isolated hill. It rests above steep slopes except on the south, where it faces the relatively level hilltop. The site was extensively excavated in 1954-9 when much early medieval material was recovered. The excavator considered this to be an early medieval fort occupying the site of an open Iron Age settlement, all overlain by a massively enclosed earthwork castle. The many caveats attending this interpretation make it problematic.
The fort is a roughly oval 0.08ha enclosure mostly defined by a broad ditched rampart with a palisade on the north. The entrance was at the north-west extremity and would have been approached along the rocky spine of the steep slopes below. There are three additional lines of ramparts on the south, one of which may have continued around the west side. The inner rampart was revetted in stone and appears to have had a timber-framed breastwork. The second rampart, also ditched, is relatively insubstantial. The two outer ramparts are again massive and appear to have been conceived as a pair, the inner again stone revetted. Traces of two rectangular buildings up to 7.5m wide were recorded in the interior.
The finds were mostly early medieval, but also included Roman material and fragments of a twelfth century pot. The ramparts overlay deposits containing Iron Age pottery. The fort does not resemble a medieval castle, but rather a later Prehistoric style hillfort and may have been established as late as the Roman period. It was clearly occupied into the early medieval period and the internal buildings could relate to this or else to an ambiguous phase signalled by the twelfth century pottery.
A bank and ditch (Bank V) running south from the fort is an old field boundary shown on the 1st edition OS County series (Glamorgan. XLVII.5 1880) and may have been connected with the enigmatic ‘causeway’.
There is a second defended enclosure 130m away on the southern edge of the hilltop (NPRN 307785).Sources: Alcock ‘Dinas Powys’ (1963), University of Wales Press
RCAHMW Glamorgan Inventory III.1a The Earlier Castles (1991), 95-100John Wiles 14.02.08
Southern earthwork:
This is a rectilinear earthwork enclosure set on the southern edge of a hilltop. The site was trenched in 1958.
The earthworks consist of the north-west and north-east sides of a sharp angled enclosure at least 60m north-east to south-west by 50m, resteing elsewhere above natural slopes. It was enclosed by a stone revetted bank fronted by a ditch with a second rampart and ditch on the north-west side, with an entrance at its north-east end.
This appears to be a later Prehistoric style settlement enclosure, an interpretation confirmed by the presence of Iron Age pottery in the rampart material. A more powerfully enclosed hillfort occupies the tip of the hilltop 130m to the north (NPRN 301314).Sources: Alcock ‘Dinas Powys’ (1963), 5-6, 19-22
RCAHMW Glamorgan Inventory III.1a The Earlier Castles (1991), 98John Wiles 14.02.08
Fan, as the prosaic name suggests, is an elongated ‘peaky ridge’ rising to the west of the hamlet of Nantcwnlle, a little over a mile and a half distant from the great, sacred hill of Trychrug.
Not to be outdone... it, too, is crowned by the remains of a formerly substantial Bronze Age cairn subsumed within a grassy mantle. Despite being “inadvertently levelled during pasture improvement” between 1996 and 1998, subsequent excavation in 2010-2011 discovered several cremation burials/cups/urns. So no doubts about said monument’s prehistoric ancestry, then. [refer ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS Vol 162 – see misc link]
The Citizen Cairn – suitably intrigued – approached via a pleasing footpath attained by taking the minor road exiting Bwlch-Llan to the northwest. Boasting sweeping panoramic views, this was a fine way to spend a blustery afternoon. A ‘Peaky Blinder’, perhaps? Furthermore, if time is not pressing, why not continue on to the wondrous Trychrug beckoning upon the skyline?
Coflein reckons:
“A disturbed circular cairn, c.21m in diameter, 1.6m high, set upon a summit, has produced a pygmy cup and possibly a bronze spear-head (see Briggs 1994 (Cardigan County Hist. I), 193 No.183).” [RCAHMW AP965053/42-3 J.Wiles 02.10.03]
Lying to the east of the reasonably substantial cairn upon the (eastern) summit of Esgair Golan (SN72848261), this is a rather more modest monument, one of a possible trio surmounting this little ridge. Then again, perhaps the multiplicity hints at natural features?
Whatever the truth, this is well worth including in a circular walk from the roadside beneath – and featuring – the cairn overlooking the Nant Geifaes at SN73188331.
Coflein reckons:
“Remains of former cairn approx. 4m in diameter x 0.60m high. Consists of piled stone now grass and turf covered. Remains of cist visible formed by 3 slabs and 1 upright slab” [R.S. Jones, Cambrian Archaeological Projects, 2004].
‘The Shire Stones’ are marked on John Speed’s 1610 map of Gloucestershire and three stones are clearly marked. They appear to be a little to the north by the junction with the Fosse and the road to Cold Ashton, and widely spaced, separated by the roads, although this might be artistic licence on the part of Speed. Nevertheless, there were certainly three marker stones there over a century before 1736. Either those engraved with 1736 are the stones that were there in 1610, or they replaced those stones.
Digital copy of the map here: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/John_Speed_-_Map_of_Gloucestershire_-_1610_-_001.jpg
Historic England [List Entry Number: 1012222] states that this obscure site represents a ‘saucer barrow’... so very rare.
I struggled to find this one – and, to be fair, I cannot 100% categorically claim I did – since the whole site was subsumed in industrial strength, impenetrable brambles. Still, I’m pretty sure... and no afternoon spent walking around in sunny woodland listening to birdsong can ever be wasted, right?
Historic England has this to say:
“The monument includes a saucer barrow which comprises a low central mound with an encircling ditch which is in turn surrounded by a low bank of earth. The central mound measures 18m in diameter and stands to 0.7m above the level of the surrounding ground at its summit. The ditch that defines the mound measures some 4m across and drops to only 0.3m below the ground level, having been largely infilled by erosion from the mound and the outer bank. It was earth from this ditch which was used to build both the central low mound and the surrounding bank. Beyond the ditch is the outer bank, 2m across and only 0.2m high. The overall diameter of the monument is therefore some 30m.”
This, a companion cairn to Garn Wen engulfed in trees upon the nearby hilltop, is a nearly destroyed – but not quite – monument set in rich pasture beside Tanybryn-Isaf farm, located in the Pumlumon foothills to the east of Aberystwyth. The field nowadays is home to nowt but inquisitive bovines turbocharged on the luxurious grass. No, make that REALLY curious cows. Tell me about it...
So, OK, only the well-informed will appreciate what is still here, the monument apparently only discovered by the wondrous Mr Driver pootling about in his plane back in 2001. As a TMA-er, that’ll now include you, then.
It’s worth combining with a visit to nearby Garn Wen, if only for fine views of neighbouring hillfort Pen-y-Castell (SN689848) across the cwm.
Coflein reckons:
“A Bronze Age round barrow, surviving as a low mound c.11m diameter, with a central hole showing a past episode of digging. The barrow lies alongside and to the south of the earthworks of an old trackway, climbing the hillside from Clawdd Melyn... Discovered during RCAHMW winter aerial reconnaissance in 2001 and recorded on subsequent flights. [T. Driver, RCAHMW, 27th Jan 2011]”
From the Herefordshire SMR:
Field Investigator’s Comments, EH Malvern Hills AONB Project fieldwork by Herefordshire Archaeology:
The summit of Bradlow Knoll is an approximately circular mound which could be artificial. It is possible that it is a round barrow. The place name is also suggestive.
Haven’t found a story. But this is quite cool:
Remains of what were undoubtedly British trackways connecting Musbury with Hochsdon and Membury and also with more distant camps, no fewer than twelve of which are visible in ordinary weather, and, of course, could be communicated with at night by means of the beacon-fire, can be distinctly traced.
The camps include those at Woodbury, Sidbury, Blackbury, Dumpton, Hembury, Belbury, and Stockland, in Devonshire; Neroche, in Somersetshire, to the north; and Eggardun, in Dorsetshire, to the east. The panoramic view of the Valley of the Axe is one of the best throughout its extent, and the eye ranges far beyond that lovely tract – over hill and dale, with water, timber, and all the other accessories of a perfect English landscape.
p. 750 in “The Book of the Axe” by George Pulman (1875).
You can see the reconstructed outline of an Iron Age aisled wheelhouse which was excavated in 1990. Built in 200AD, this is a small example, with an internal diameter of 6.5 metres, but it lay on the edge of a much larger settlement. It probably had seven internal stone piers and a rectangular heart.
Car Park Noticeboard
John Bews says “from the mound at Howe the sun rises on the longest day, I think, directly over this stone. Moor Stone may have been quarried some distance south-east of Castle Bloody...” Howe Hill canmore.org.uk/site/3097/shapinsay-hillock-of-howe as distinct from the Hillock of Howe
Despite being featured upon current OS mapping I’m pretty confident that a visit to the obscure Bronze Age cairn located upon the south-eastern spur of Moel y Gadfa – the high moor ( at 1,669ft) overlooking the minor road linking the mountain pass Bwlch-y-Groes and Llyn Efyrnwy – will not grace many antiquarian-themed itineraries. Ha! Upon second thoughts, very confident...
To be fair, the terrain to be found here – to the east of the magnificent Arans – is probably an acquired taste and, as such, likely to appeal only to those with a penchant for avoiding the crowds and immersing themselves in the landscape – hopefully not TOO literally, one would hope. It is pretty hard going underfoot... but hey, nothing good comes without a little effort, right?
In the event I struggled to find the monument owing to fence lines on the ground not mirroring what was shown upon my map, this disorientating me more than a little as hill fog swept in to further confuse matters with reduced visibility... and driving rain. However, find it I did. Eventually.
Coflein notes:
“A much disturbed & spread round cairn, in the region of 7.5m in diameter & 1.0m high.” [RCAHMW AP94-CS 0027 J.Wiles 26.07.04]
The elevated ridges of Esgair Gorlan and Esgair Nant-y-Moch stand to the (approx) south of the enigmatic Pumlumon outlier Disgwylfa Fawr (the ‘Watching Place’) and, as such, are well worth a wander in their own right when events/weather/downright exhaustion conspire against a more challenging outing. Although nothing is indicated upon current OS mapping, prehistoric upland cairns are to be found here. Well, this is Pumlumon, after all. What else did you expect?
I parked up beside the ford overlooked by the cairn namechecking the Nant Geifaes, following the stony byway heading southwest into the hinterland.
Coflein reckons the following:
“Located on a summit on the eastern side of Esgair Gorlan is a robbed round cairn. It is a turf-covered stony mound measuring 9.5m in diameter and 0.5m high but higher on the south-west where spoil from a central hollow has been piled up. The hollow measures 4m long (NW-SE) by 1.5m across and 0.4m deep. It was presumably the site of a cist, or at least thought to be, though its stony base may point to a cist cut into the old land surface.” [D.K.Leighton, RCAHMW & R.S. Jones, Cambrian Archaeological Projects, 29 May 2015]
Note that there is – unbeknown to me at the time of my visit – another cairn surmounting the western summit of Esgair Gorlan at SN7241082620. Another time, perhaps?
English Heritage description:
The monument includes the remains of a substantial round barrow situated on a flat open hilltop. The barrow is visible as a flat topped mound of earth and stone, 24m in diameter and up to 1.5m high. The summit of the mound has been disturbed by exploration at some time in the past, creating a central crater 5m in diameter and 0.6m deep. Although no longer discernible as a surface feature, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature some 2m wide.
English Heritage description:
The monument includes a substantial round barrow situated on the summit of Minton Hill. The barrow is visible as a circular, well defined stony mound, 16m in diameter and 1m high. The flattened summit of the mound has been disturbed by exploration at some time in the past creating a central hollow 2m in diameter and 0.3m deep. Although no longer discernible as a surface feature, a ditch, from which material was quarried during the construction of the monument, surrounds the mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried feature some 2m wide.
This, another of Wales’ ‘White Cairns’, is almost completely subsumed within seemingly impenetrable forestry covering a minor hilltop to the west of Pumlumon. So much so that The Citizen Cairn admits to having a pretty hard time locating it, despite the monument apparently being some 50ft across. However, all’s well that ends well, as they say. If not exactly ‘all-white’.
Yeah, despite – or perhaps because of – the difficulty reaching the cairn, the intense woodland vibe, amplified many times over by whatever it is that these prehistoric sites do to the receptive human psyche, has me doing mental cartwheels in short order. Indeed, one supposes the proverbial ‘knife’ would make little impression upon the atmosphere to be found here. Bring a chainsaw. No, on second thoughts, don’t! And to think we’ve a myriad myopic muppets jumping up and down on Salisbury Plain... presumably, Pumlumon doesn’t feature upon Papa’s Range Rover’s sat nav?
Coflein doesn’t have a lot to say:
“A much disturbed round cairn, 15m in diameter & 1.5m high, set upon the highest point of a ridge.” [J.Wiles 23.07.04]
Interestingly, Coflein reckons the ‘Mynydd March’ stone may once have been known as Mynydd Tarw... so once upon a time, we may well have had ‘Bull, Cow and Calf’ stones:
“A shattered monolith is located just off the south edge of a road, set back from it about 3m in what is now a ditch between the road and an old field bank which forms part of a forestry boundary. The stone is in three (visible) pieces. The largest is 1m high, 0.7m wide and 0.5m thick. Two much smaller pieces have become detached from each of two sides of the stone.
The stone is portrayed on Lewis Morris’s map of 1744 where it is named Maen Tarw. About 100m along the road to the east is Buwch a’r Llo standing stone pair (which is not shown on the 1744 map. However, the latter are shown on Gogerddan Estate map of 1788, annotated `Maen Tarw?. [David Leighton, RCAHMW, 7 February 2013]”
Revisited during an extended visit to Twll yr Ogof from the Fford Ddu roadside near Cyfarnedd-fawr, I had forgotten how substantial this – The King’s Grave – actually is... some c62ft across. Suffice to say, it’s well worth a primary visit in its own right.
Coflein notes:
“The mutilated ruins of a cairn stand upon a saddle between two mountains at the head of Cwm-llwyd. It is near circular, some 18-19.5m across and survives up to 1.2m high. It is crossed by a comparatively recent sheep shelter wall. The cairn was dug into in 1851, when a cist or slab chamber, 0.9m by 0.7m and 0.5m deep was uncovered. This contained fragments of human bone and had been covered by a 2.0m by 0.9m capstone. In 1851 ‘sheperd-huts’ were observed around the base of the cairn. The cairn was already robbed. The shelter wall is built over the displaced capstone and so must post-date the excavation. [Source: Wynne foulkes in Archaeologia Cambrensis New Series III (1852), 96-9] – John Wiles, RCAHMW, 22 February 2008”
This, the ‘Middle Cairn/Barrow’, appropriately enough stands between Crug Melyn and the unnamed ‘Tumlumus’ shown upon the 1:25k map... although quite why it is named... and its substantial western neighbour is not... I guess only local folklore may be able to explain?
Coflein notes:
“Bronze Age cairn or barrow, 17m” [c56ft] “in diameter, standing up to 2” high, has been ‘opened’. [J.Wiles 20.02.02]”
Less than a mile to the west of the suspect charms of Llech Ciste (which I consequently forgo), what I envisaged as being a minor group of barrow/cairns... in very short order became a fine Bronze Age cemetery worth a considerable journey.
To be fair, owners of the 1:25k map will note that three of the linear alignment of monuments are named... so perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but there you are. This, the ‘Yellow Cairn’ crowning 1,070ft Pen-crug-melyn at the eastern extremity, is pleasingly bathed in an orangey/yellow(ish) glow as the sun briefly reasserts its dominance following a couple of hours of intense downpour. So, needless to say, the locals know where they’re at. As usual.
Speaking of which, I encounter the farmer in his Land Rover and he beams a smile as bright as that fiery nuclear globe while confirming I’m OK with my parking arrangements. No problem at all, so please don’t take the piss and block his gates should you approach from the south.
Coflein doesn’t say much (if 14m also means nothing to you, that’s c46ft in proper terms):
“A disturbed cairn, 14m in diameter and 1.3m high.
[J.Wiles 20.02.02]”
This, marked as ‘Tumulus’ upon 1:25k OS mapping (presumably owing to the grassy mantle obscuring any expected cairn attributes), stands between Crug Canol and Crug Bach (SN49632863), the latter located near the entrance gate to Mynydd Bach Common and quite hard to distinguish amongst vegetation. There are apparently other monuments nearby I wasn’t able to discern with any certainty.
Although lacking the profile of the two great eastern cairns, this is nevertheless a substantial monument worth lingering at for a while, measuring approx 65ft across and 3ft in height.
Coflein reckons:
“SN49632863, reported as mutilated, c.13m in diameter and 0.9m high, with the eatern of the two.. at SN49882864, being 20m in diameter and 0.9m high. [J.Wiles 19.02.02]”
