Without GPS couldn’t ascertain exactly where the cremation burial was found... but guess that doesn’t really matter since it was approx here or here-abouts. Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du rise beyond, the trio crowned by cairns... the former more-or-less trashed, the latter two certainly funerary, consolidated and protected beneath modern shells.
North-western face of Fan y Big from near the summit cairn of Cribyn, looking across the col of Bwlch ar y Fan and its ancient track. Fan y Big, it would appear, had no cairn.... but nevertheless was a (confirmed) Bronze Age funerary site.
Fan y Big emerges from the mist, rising above Cwm Oergwm. Some modern observers may well query the need to choose such an inhospitable location to send your cherished ones to eternity? Others will not question the logic at all. The cremation burial was discovered just below the summit.
An iconic rock feature overhanging Cwm Cynwyn at the summit of Fan y Big. Possessing an apparently unprepossessing cremation burial in lieu of the summit funerary cairns of its more topographically dramatic neighbours... perhaps this striking natural curiosity proved more than a curiosity to the Bronze Age locals?
The summit of Fan y Big, looking approx south. I believe the cremation site was a little below to the left. In my experience most punters pause – momentarily – upon the peak’s famous ‘diving board’ rock formation for an obligatory photo prior to moving swiftly on. However it appears at least one individual stayed for several millennia..... The Mam C, having sampled the vibe here, agreed that we should stay for a while, too.
The Mam C pauses to ponder the rise of Craig Cwmoergwm to the summit of Fan y Big.... and why Bronze Age locals chose to place a cremation burial (with grave goods) just below the high point. Cribyn almost evades the clammy embrace of mist beyond.
The northwestern scarp face of Fan y Big above Cwm Cynwyn.
Landscape context from Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion to the SE. I would have been closer to the rim of escarpment but for the gale force wind threatening to hurl me bodily over the edge.
What odds that a very tiny percentage of the walkers who frequent The Brecon Beacons now-a-days appreciate the true enormity of what these mountains must once have represented to our ancestors?..... looking towards the Bronze Age burial sites of Fan y Big, Cribyn [probable], Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du from Waun Rydd.
Fan y Big seen from Craig Cwm Cynwyn to the west.
Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn from Fan y Big summit.
Walked up here from Storey Arms (22.5.2010) via the central peaks of Corn Du, Pen y Fan and Cribyn. Needless to say I was completely unaware of the cremation burial, and I’m guessing there wouldn’t be much to see of it. But as a spot to be interred, it doesn’t get much better – as well as the views north over Cwm Oergwm, the high-level close-up of the central peaks themselves can probably not be beaten. Awesome in the true meaning of the word.
Headed south from here, to check out Lower Neuadd menhir.
Needless to say this could very possibly be one of the most obscure sites to feature in TMA... one for ‘completists’ or the obsessed only, perhaps? Hmm... so much so that I’ve no idea what to ‘label’ it as?
Set a little to the south of the 2,358ft summit of Fan y Big, high upon the great northern escarpment of The Brecon Beacons, the location is awe-inspiring. It truly is. The physical remains, frankly, are not – for if there is something actually here to see, I could not find it. Might even have walked right by without realising it, who knows? Guess it’s my fault for assuming a cremation burial would be within the remains of some kind or cairn or cist... but I understand this need not be the case. Perhaps a GPS owner might be able to provide a definitive answer? Perhaps.
What is not in dispute is that this wild, windswept mountain ridge was the last resting place of at least one Bronze Age inhabitant of the region. To quote Coflein:
‘Remains of a cremation burial lying on the path passing Fan y Big, two cordoned urns and a bronze implement were recovered from the site in 1981’.
Significantly he/she was not alone, for nearby Pen-y-Fan, Corn Du and probably Cribyn (cited by the relevant local archaeological trust, but not Coflein in this instance) also featured Bronze Age burials. For me this simply adds another dimension to a multi-faceted landscape that already has me freaking out with delight. Clearly here we have South Wales’ highest Bronze Age cemetery……..
The most direct approach is via the long northern ridge Cefn Cyff, parking your car (carefully, mind) near the farm at Pen-yr-heol. Minimal the remains may be, but that is just one aspect of the ‘package’. Less is very often more, I find.
Coflein image of a cordoned funerary urn found – well excavated – upon Fan y Big in 1981.
