Y Gamriw

Nearest town:
Llandrindod Wells (11km E)
OS reference:
SN94406118
OS sheet:
147
Latitude:
52° 14' 17.54 N
Longitude:
3° 32' 47.91 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Y Gamriw fills the skyline. Seen from the ridge of high ground crossed by the Wye Valley Way to the north, above the confluence of Elan and Gwy rivers.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.5.2023)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jun 7, 2024
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

Toward the massive summit cairn from the OS Trig...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN May 5, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

As often seems to be the case, the monument appears to have been positioned to give a fine arc of distant hills as opposed to the cwm floor... an amphitheatre, perhaps?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 15, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

Looking approx north towards two more great cairns.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 15, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

I reckon that must be Gorllwyn rising beyond... again crowned by Bronze Age cairns, albeit not of this magnitude. Still a fine, fine walk.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 15, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

The shelter constructed within... as opposed to upon... the cairn, such is the size of the monument. This appeared to me to be for the use of sheep, as opposed to the more basic type of walker.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 15, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

[Note – this and subsequent images dating from 17th Sept 2012 previously thought lost until re-discovered upon a memory stick buried within a drawer]. This is the massive summit cairn.... but the first of at least a half dozen crowning this wondrous mini-mountain.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 15, 2020
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

The linear series of massive cairns gracing Y Gamriw are well seen from Waun Sarn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 24, 2019
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

The long, high ridge of Y Gamriw is seen rising upon the skyline beyond Craig Cnwch... the stone circle and related monuments of Crugian Bach lie in between. The viewpoint is Craig Y Foel, the reservoir Caban-coch.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Nov 16, 2013
Image of Y Gamriw (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by GLADMAN

Y Gamriw from the Carnau Cefn-y-Ffordd... or at least one of them. Note that there is not an inkling of Y Gamriw’s great summit cairn from down here.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 7, 2010

Articles

Y Gamriw

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 18, 2014

If I recall correctly it was Rabelais who reckoned that ‘nature abhors a vacuum’. Not so myself, not with hot coffee a’waiting in the flask. My beef has instead often been with the metre (except when in the gifted hands of a Richey Edwards or his ilk). Yeah, too unwieldy a unit of length in the singular, sadly lacking when bundled together in the kilometre. And you would never catch Charlie and Craig walking 804.67 of the latter to fall down at anyone’s door, I can tell you. Hence – should you ever find yourself in Leith – it’s probably for the best that you refrain from mentioning that there are (arguably) some benefits of using the metric. Consider Y Gamriw, for example: an obscure, sub-2,000ft Mid Walian hill, probably not worth the effort.... or mountain rising to an impressive 604m? It’s all about perception, is it not? Well, isn’t everything? And I’d suggest the latter epithet is much more likely to secure a reference in a local guide book, perhaps planting the precious seed of curiosity.

A guide book such as Terry Marsh’s ‘The Mountains of Wales’, the first 600m plus ‘metric’ guide book I’d encountered, the first to assign the magical noun ‘mountain’. Naturally it would’ve been rude not to go and have a look after that, the massive, shattered summit cairn looming above the mist wreathed summit that day (back in 1999) sufficient cause for the silent voice of introspection to state the self-evident truth... that I had to return some day, if only to see what lay beyond that too intimidating wall of vapour. Needless to say self-evident truths have a habit of hibernating within the deepest recesses of the subconscious, pending a ‘wake up call’. The fruits of Toby Driver’s all-seeing aerial camera displayed upon the Coflein database were the agents in this case.

Located some four miles to the approx south-west of the bustling town of Rhayader, Y Gamriw is – luckily for the average stonehead – significantly more ‘visitor friendly’ than its 600m peers Gorllwyn and Drygarn Fawr rising to the west. Indeed I would go as far as to say you would need to be absolutely bonkers to attempt an ascent of either of those desolate, enigmatic summits if low cloud is at all a possibility. Consequently I’d recommend Y Gamriw as a fine introduction to the perhaps surprisingly uncompromising terrain of the Elan uplands. Try before you buy, so to speak. And visit half a dozen large upland cairns as you do so. What’s not to like for a Citizen Cairn’d?

The key to a relatively straightforward ascent is the minor road heading approx south from the River Wye-side village of Llanwrthwl [although longer variations could include traversing the north-eastern ridge, Graig Ddu.... or even climbing via Crugian Bach’s stone circle]. It is currently possible to park a car – with care, mind – at the terminus, the tarmac morphing into a grassy track and continuing westwards. Head along said track (with Y Gamriw visible rising beyond to the right and Drum Ddu, crowned by Carn-y-Geifr... ‘cairn of the goat’ ... to the left), resisting the urge to strike off for the ridge until an obvious, diagonally slanting path can be seen ascending the mountain’s flank. Having tried both I’d suggest this is an easier alternative to a full frontal assault upon the summit. Anyway, once the ridge crest is attained, heading to the left will ensure the OS trig pillar (incidentally not the highest point of Y Gamriw) will soon be yours, duly noting the excellent cairn grouping of Carnau Cefn-y-Fford lying below, a little further up the track. Needless to say well worth a visit. Now.... assuming you can tear yourself away, the massive summit cairn can be seen rising above and beyond a nasty section of the ubiquitous local bog some distance to the approx west.

Despite the depredation of having had a substantial ‘sheep shelter’ erected within – albeit one constructed from the ancient fabric... and possessing an ethereal vibe I’m at a loss to explain – the summit cairn remains an impressive monument. The views are far reaching, particularly looking west toward what I would cite as some of the most challenging landscape in all Wales. A proper wilderness where a sheep track may well become something to savour, an all too brief respite for tired, aching – not to mention wet – ankles. Looking to the north-east the traveller sees Graig Ddu (as you might expect) slowly descending toward Llanwrthwl, the village obscured by the mountain’s bulk. According to the map three additional large cairns mark its linear progress, two of which I manage to visit this time around. But wait, there’s more. As I turn my gaze to the north the presence of yet two more substantial stone piles located a short distance away lend further credence to my earlier deliberations concerning ‘relative perception’. Then there’s the site of a stone circle – nay, apparent ‘prehistoric complex’ – upon the moorland bordering Crugian Bach to the north-west. Simply put, there was clearly an awful lot going on millennia ago where few now see fit to tread. Yeah, the scope of such a collection of substantial monuments upon / overlooked by such an apparently obscure Mid Walian hill is intriguing. Is it possible that Y Gamriw was actually the focal point of Bronze Age Elenydd? It seems a good bet to me.

The weather becomes progressively more volatile, more violent as I (inevitably) feel the need to take a close look at the two northern cairns.... and – naturally – the Graig Ddu trio in due course. As it happens the eastern-most (and lowest) of the latter three eventually eludes me, the reserves of energy exhausted, the ‘tank’ dry. Unlike the landscape, which is duly subjected to a series of violent lashings interspersed with wondrous golden illuminations, these exquiste light shows culminating in the appearance of some of the finest arching rainbows I’ve seen for a long, long time. How can something so nebulous appear so paradoxically substantial? Yeah, we could debate that one for years. So, I call a halt at the second cairn (SN95666204) and instead of returning to the summit decide, perhaps unwisely, to head straight for the roadhead and car waiting immediately below to the south. The descent is steep, rough, but causes no lasting trauma. No harm done. And to think that I may well have never ventured up here.... if it wasn’t for the metre.

[Fieldnotes from Sept 2012.... but for some reason – too much work for too little pay, probably – not submitted at the time]

Miscellaneous

Y Gamriw
Barrow / Cairn Cemetery
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 26, 2009

Visited too long ago – 1999 – for posting relevant fieldnotes; however Coflein states:

A cairn on the W end of the main summit ridge of Gamriw, 20.4m by 16.6m and 2.0m high. A central crater houses a drystone building.

There are other cairns nearby – and of course the Carnau Cefn-y-Fford cairn cemetery lies in the valley to the south east (ish)

Sites within 20km of Y Gamriw

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