Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du

Round Cairn
SN8117021855

Also known as:

Bannau Sir Gaer

Nearest town:

Llandovery (14km NW)

OS reference:

SN8117021855

OS sheet:

160

Latitude:

51° 52' 55.49 N

Longitude:

3° 43' 35.89 W

Added to TMA by

GLADMAN

Images (29)
Fieldnotes (2)
Folklore (1)
Topics (1)

Images

Image of Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Zooming in on the sunlit summit, the prominent cairn is clearly visible.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.2.2016)

thesweetcheat Mar 14, 2016

A momentary sunburst lights up the summit of Picws Du, centre.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.2.2016)

thesweetcheat Mar 14, 2016

Image of Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Oct 11, 2015

The monument was sited to just negate this view in a manner that was surely intentional? Llyn y Fan Fach, the magical lake of lore, probably needs no introduction. The sites of some of the numerous other massive cairns gracing the western uplands of Y Mynydd Du may well do so. All reward the inquisitive antiquarian-minded walker prepared to put him/herself out a bit.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Apr 25, 2015

The possible remains of a cist ‘hang on in there’ within the cairn....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Apr 23, 2015

The monument surmounting Fan Foel can be seen rising beyond.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Apr 23, 2015

Looking west.... the size of the Bronze Age cairns crowning succeeding summits rising in inverse proportion to the elevation of the landscape.... beyond Garreg Las all the way to the mighty cemeteries of Tair Carn Uchaf and Tair Carn Isaf

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Apr 23, 2015

Llyn y Fan Fach nestling beneath the crags of Bannau Sir Gaer and overlooked by Bronze Age cairns crowning Picws Du (approx. centre skyline) and Fan Foel, beyond, the latter excavated and featuring a cist. The lake is arguably Wales most enigmatic ‘Fairy Lake’, a source of legends stretching back into the mists of time.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Apr 23, 2015

They sure knew where to put ‘em.... the cairn crowns the wonderfully elegant high point of Bannau Sir Gaer nearest the camera, with Llyn Y Fan Fach, the fairy lake, lying beyond... immersed in watery legend. Viewpoint is Fan Foel, with an excellent excavated monument of its own, complete with cist.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Mar 27, 2015

In stark contrast to the plunging cliffs of the northern aspect of Y Mynydd Du, the view from the south is one of gently rounded slopes. Picws Du rises centre skyline, the viewpoint is Cwm Fforch-wen, looking up the Gwys Fawr.

Image credit: A. Brookes (27.9.2013)

thesweetcheat Dec 2, 2013

The breathtaking summit setting of the cairn, above plunging cliffs.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Aug 26, 2013

Picws Du (centre) seen from the summit of Waun Lefrith to the WSW.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Aug 26, 2013

Good spot for it... from the east.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

The ‘cist’.... or what is left of it, should it have been such. And annoying walkers’ cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

The monument is much larger than I recalled from previous visits, I have to say. The rucksacks represent a rather feeble attempt at defining the arc. The Mam C is rather more successful executing a suitably ‘heroic’ pose in deference to the hero(es) of yore once interned here. The thought occurs whether any of them were female? If not, they bloody well should have been.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

The monument sits upon the very edge of the Bannau Sir Gaer escarpment, its true extent camoflagued by a grassy mantle.......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

Highlighting the large cairn footprint...... the vibe is suitably monumental, the Mam C surveying industrial South Wales, with Fan Hir (the prosaic ‘Long Peak’) to left.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

Although not of any great height (was it ever?) the round cairn of Picws Du nonetheless covers a substantial area. The obligatory ‘walkers’ cairn’ can be seen perched upon the left hand flank, of no consequence by comparison. Having said that, the monument is in turn overwhelmed by the cloudscape.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

Looking from the suitably sombre – not to mention legendary – shoreline of Llyn-y-Fan-Fach (aka the ‘Fairy Lake’).The monument sits upon the very far edge of Picws Du, the central peak. An excavated cairn (with exposed cist) can be visited upon Fan Foel, top left background. Picws Du possesses a ‘possible’, seriously trashed cist within its cairn.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 8, 2012

In its landscape. Picws Du (right of centre), flanked to the left by Fan Foel. Seen from the Bannau Sir Gaer circle.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Mar 1, 2011

From the SE, emphasising the size of the mound compared with the walkers’ cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

Looking across the sunny Carmarthenshire uplands below Y Mynydd Du.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

Looking back towards Waun Lefrith, and beyond to the be-cairned Garreg Lwyd and Garreg Las summits. The serious diameter of the original mound can still be seen – this would have been a whopper.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

Approaching the cairn from the west. Behind lies Fan Foel, and to the right Twr y Fan Foel, both with their own (even higher) cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

Legendary Llyn y Fan Fach, beneath the cliffs of Y Mynydd Du. Picws Du emerges from mist on the right, while Fan Foel remains coy beyond.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

The prow of Picws Du emerges from patchy cloud. Seen from the north, along Cwm Sawdde.

Image credit: A. Brookes (26.2.2011)

thesweetcheat Feb 27, 2011

Image of Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by cerrig

looking North.

Image credit: cerrig

cerrig Jul 2, 2010

The Picws Du burial cairn in its landscape context, with the legendary Llyn y Fan Fach below to the right. Viewpoint is near the (excavated, with cist!) cairn upon Fan Foel.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Sep 27, 2009

Articles

Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du

Round Cairn

thesweetcheat Aug 27, 2013

As the Picws Du summit cairn comes into view, it becomes apparent that it has a very decent sized footprint, but is now quite low, with a smaller walkers’ cairn plonked on the top, possibly/probably made from stones from the original monument. There are some pretty big blocks in the original though and the footprint suggests it would have been a big cairn. In any case, the setting more than compensates for any deficiencies in the cairn itself. The views north over the escarpment edge are awe-inspiring, even on a day of fairly short visibility like today. And as we stop to take it all in, the mist lifts properly and blue skies open above us. Ah, what a wonderful world. And what a place to be interred.

Incidentally, the name is obscure – the Nuttalls translate it as “Black Peak”, but I’ve not managed to find a translation for “picws” in any Welsh dictionary yet, so I’m not sure of this. Any ideas?

Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du

Round Cairn

GLADMAN Aug 2, 2009

Set at an altitude of c2,460ft and crowning the majestic cliff line of Bannau Sir Gaer – which tower above the dark waters of Llyn y Fan Fach – lie the scant remnants of a round barrow which, in all probability, was the last resting place of a Bronze Age chieftain.

As is often the case, the magnificent location, the sheer ‘sense of place’ of the site, is out of all proportion to the physical remains of the monument. Why, even the modern walker’s cairn which surmounts the barrow is a pretty feeble attempt for a major summit such as this. Then again perhaps this is to miss the point… perhaps only a relatively minor structure was deemed necessary because of the location, which in itself said all that was needed about the power and importance of the individual interred. Perhaps.

To get to the technical bit, Coflein states that the cairn is “..circular, measuring 19.5m in diameter and 1.0m high. It has been disturbed and has a hummocky appearance, with a small modern cairn set upon it. The cairn is composed of mainly small stones, generally turf covered. At the centre can be seen the edge of an apparently upright slab, broken in three, with a total length of 1.3m and orientated roughly east-west. This is perhaps the vestiges of a cist. This is probably a prehistoric funerary monument and can be compared to the excavated example on Fan Foel to the east.”

The most notable aspect of the Picws Du burial site is the frankly awesome view of the aforementioned Llyn y Fan Fach, sometimes referred to locally as the ‘Fairy Lake’ because of long standing associations with the Tylwyth Teg [the ‘fair folk’, hence ‘fairies’]. The lake is overflowing (sorry) with folklore and legend, the most famous being that of the ‘Lady of the Lake’, generally considered a reference to a Celtic goddess. Well, the water association certainly fits with known prehistoric ritual practice. Whatever the truth, it is clear that this small corner of Wales has afforded mankind with a righteous experience for millennia, and continues to do so.

Best approached via a minor road from Llanddeusant to free car parking at SN 797238. Here a well maintained track leads in about a mile or so to the lake, from where a substantial climb will bring you to the summit if you so desire.

Picws Du, Y Mynydd Du

Round Cairn

GLADMAN Apr 24, 2010

A full account of the ‘Lady of the Lake’ legend is given in W Jenkyn Thomas’ ‘The Welsh Fairy Book’ (1907)... “High up in a hollow of the Black Mountains of South Wales is a lonely sheet of water called Llyn y Fan Fach.....”

However there is an overview for the curious – maybe contemplating a visit? – here:
sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/wfb/wfb03.htm