Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du

Nearest town:
Llandovery (17km NW)
OS reference:
SN85142043
OS sheet:
160
Latitude:
51° 52' 12.38 N
Longitude:
3° 40' 6.61 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking north, the stone circle is hidden by the rising ground.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.2.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Mar 20, 2016
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Another shot of the clearance cairn at SN85122056, looking towards the stone circle.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.2.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Mar 20, 2016
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Small clearance cairn at SN85122056, halfway between the stone circle and Nant-y-Llyn cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.2.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Mar 20, 2016
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

The adjacent Nant-y-Llyn, outflow of the Llyn y Fan Fawr, is ‘lively’, to say the least. The siting of a cairn near the confluence with the nascent Afon Tawe is noteworthy. In my opinion.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 5, 2015
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Nearly dusk at the Nant-y-Llyn cairn. Surely that is the remnant of a cist within?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 5, 2015
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Nearing dusk beside the Nant-y-Llyn.... note just one of the many cascades/waterfalls which bless the outflow of the magical Llyn y Fan Fawr as it rushes to join the fledgling Afon Tawe beneath Y Cerrig Duon. Surely the cairn’s siting is utterly intentional?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 5, 2015
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Waun Leuci – with its own cairn, unseen from down here (of course) – towers above.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 30, 2011
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking down the valley of the infant Afon Tawe.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 30, 2011
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

With the Trecastle road visible beyond, following the line of the infant Afon Tawe. Waun Leuci sweeps into Cefn Cul above.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Aug 14, 2010
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Viewed from the Nant-y-Llyn waterfalls........ incidentally the outflow of the legendary Llyn y Fan Fawr. Follow this upstream should you ever wish to see the excavated cairn upon Fan Foel, amongst other things...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Aug 14, 2010
Image of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

The Mam Cymru provides a little scale here...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 1, 2010

Articles

Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 1, 2010

Well, who’d have thought it? After all these years trampling up and down the wondrous Mynydd Du, gawping at the elegant waterfalls upon the Nant-y-Llyn and hanging out at the Cerrig Duon, the penny finally drops that here, right beside the main path, is a genuine Bronze Age cairn.

True, the cairn is not even marked on the 1:25K map and the stream’s cascades, outflow of the superb Llyn y Fan Fawr sited far above, completely grab the attention of the passing hillwalker. Nevertheless.... honestly!

Sited overlooking the aforementioned Nant-y-Llyn, to the south of the Maen Mawr and its accompanying ‘circle, a visit to this cairn is no easy affair most of the year since it requires the fording of the infant Afon Tawe – easier said than done in all but the driest of periods, today requiring a detour of a quarter mile upstream, not to mention waterproof socks. However combine a visit with the circle and you’ll have yourself a grand few hours in fabulously wild, remote country infused with that additional ‘aura’ only prehistoric sites possess.
Hell, not even driving hail and blizzards could dampen our spirits today, not with washes of sun racing across the flanks of Waun Leuci during the intervals between weather fronts and the multicoloured sheep wandering up to gaze incomprehensively at the visitors. ‘Allo creeps, Sidney Sheep ‘ere’.

The location is superb, the only sound that of water making its inexorable way into the Afon Tawe from a myriad sources upon the mountainside, the loudest being the cascades just upstream. The cairn, clearly ‘opened’ at one time or another, would appear to have been sited with reference to these waterfalls, and also appears to have a remnant of cist within (?)

As for the technical bit... according to Coflein the cairn is:

“A Bronze Age round cairn is located on south-east sloping ground at 370m ASL, to the south of the megalithic complex of Maen Mawr and Cerrig Duon, and on the north side of Nant-y-llyn.
The oval stony mound measures 9.8m long (NW-SE) by 7.6m and stands to between 0.9m and 1.2m high, allowing for the slope of the ground. The cairn is marked by a central trench running NW to SE which measures 4.3m long, 1.4m wide and 0.5m deep; towards its SE end lie two stone uprights, perhaps the remains of a cist”.

Sites within 20km of Nant-y-Llyn, Y Mynydd Du

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