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May 21, 2022
Beautiful day when the trees the grass and the hunbedden all appeared to merge into one
May 20, 2022
17/05/2022 – Cairn at summit with modern cairn on top. Ain’t no Tinto but the walk is good.
17/05/2022 – Landscape photo. Looking south from Lochcraig Head to White Coomb. Cairns are at the highest top.
17/05/2022 – Landscape photo. Looking across Carrifran from Saddle Yoke to White Coomb. Cairns are at the highest top.
17/05/2022 – Two cairns approx 100m apart sit on the summit of White Coomb. They are on Canmore and written in italics on the OS map. Both have a good sized footprint, 9.0m or so in diameter. Low in height and grassed over. There is a small modern cairn on one to mark the top of the hill. They are nothing flash but I liked them. The view and feeling of space is very good here.
We started from the car park at Grey Mare’s Tail. Up to Loch Skeen then Lochcraig Head, White Coomb, Rotten Bottom and Saddle Yoke. Down to the road to walk back to the car. Good day out. It’s nice round here.
May 19, 2022
A rare Bronze Age spearhead has been found by workers while developing a wetland in Gloucestershire.
Experts discovered it at Cirencester Sewage Works, near South Cerney, earlier this year and on 10 May estimated it is about 3,500 years old.
Archaeologists said it appeared to be a family heirloom that was placed into a pit for a reason unknown.
Other items unearthed include a selection of prehistoric pottery fragments and flint tools.
A previously unknown stone circle has been found inside a Cornwall scheduled monument, a conservation group says.
The underground circle has been found inside Castilly Henge, near Bodmin, by Historic England (HE) and the Cornwall Archaeology Unit.
It was found during the site’s first modern archaeological survey to better understand the area, HE said.
The site has now been fenced, allowing it to be grazed by animals without damaging the structure, it added.
The henge is one of 40 scheduled monuments protected by the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
May 17, 2022
Very substantial, to be fair. And not even marked on the map?
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Moelwyns Mawr and Bach rise beyond
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
How much of this monument is/was crag and how much cairn material?
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Llyn Morwynion ‘Lake of the Maidens’.... Y Rhinogydd can be seen upon the skyline.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking across The Migneint towards Arenig Fawr and Moel Llyfnant..
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Driven past more times than I can recall... and never sussed this was up here.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Y Garnedd means ‘The Cairn’ in Welsh... which is perhaps not that surprising since this c1,811ft peak, rising above Llyn Morwynion (Lake of The Maidens), is crowned by a massive Bronze Age monument of the ‘ring cairn’ variety.
Suffice to say, the mountain has ‘form’ since Llyn Morwynion, while not specifically namechecked, nevertheless appears to feature in The Mabinogion... since we learn Blodeuedd, upon hearing that the wizard Gwydion was hot in pursuit:
“...took her maidens with her and made for a court that was on the mountains, and over Cynfal river they made for a court that was on the mountain. But through fear they could not proceed save with their faces looking backwards. And then, never a thing knew they before they fell into the lake, and were all drowned save she alone..”
A visit to the ancient stone pile is recommended (a surfeit of quarry workings notwithstanding) since there are some fantastic views to be had from the summit. Hey, the archaeology’s pretty impressive, too, although I did wonder whether – having noted over the years how a number of Welsh summit cairns incorporate pre-existing crags within the structure – this was actually originally intended as a ring cairn? A crafty attempt to save effort, or symbolic incorporation of the living rock into the monument? Ermm. Let’s go with the latter, eh? Having said that, the professionals are pretty sure, Coflein reckoning:
A ring cairn located around the summit of Y Garnedd...It has a diameter of 12m, mainly consisting of turf-covered stonework 0.2 – 0.3m high, with a pronounced kerb in places. It is best preserved on the NE and NW sides, the S side partly formed from a natural outcrop. In the centre is a depression, but this appears to have been scooped out in modern times. There is an arc-shaped pile of stones on its E side, and slabs to the W which may be natural.....” [W B Horton, H & H, 10/01/2014].
Y Garnedd is most easily approached via a track above Llyn Dubach beside the B4407 from Ysbyty Ifan.
According to the “Mysterious Britain and Ireland” website Llyn Morwynion, overlooked by the fine ring cairn upon Y Garnedd:
“...is probably the lake where, according to the Mabinogion, Blodeuedd and her Maidens of Ardudwy drowned whilst fleeing from the wizard Gwydion and the men of Gwynedd.”
mysteriousbritain.co.uk/legends/llyn-morwynion-lake-of-the-maidens/
