Cribyn

Also known as:
Cribin
Nearest town:
Brecon (7km N)
OS reference:
SO023213
OS sheet:
160
Latitude:
51° 52' 52.3 N
Longitude:
3° 25' 10.44 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The summit of Cribyn from Bwlch ar y Fan. One assumes this ancient route would not have featured highly upon a Roman legionary’s ‘Top 10 places to visit in Britanniae’ ... alongside Hardknott, perhaps? I can also imagine earlier Bronze Age travellers pausing here to gaze up at this very view and invoke the protection of the VIP interned above. Not to mention that upon Fan y Big out of shot to the right...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 26, 2015
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The wonderfully stratified eastern face of Cribyn from near the summit of Fan y Big. The peak possesses a badly eroded summit cairn. Pen y Fan and Corn Du rise above completing the highest Bronze Age cemetery in South Wales. The pass Bwlch ar y Fan (centre left) allows access of a track – known prosaically as the ‘Gap Road’ – linking Brecon and Pontsticill. Used by the Romans, what odds the route was used by prehistoric travellers, too? With their VIPs keeping watch from ‘the other side’, so to speak.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 21, 2015
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Cribyn from the Bronze Age summit cairn on neighbouring Pen y Fan. Some serious locations for this cemetery.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.1.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 11, 2015
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Side-profile of Cribyn, from Craig Gwaun Taf. The valley below is the head of the Taf Fechan (“Little Taff”).

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.1.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 10, 2015
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The jutting prow of Cribyn, seen from Bwlch ar y Fan to the SE.

Image credit: A. Brookes (14.4.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 30, 2012
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

A walkers’ cairn surmounts the scant remains of the summit cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (14.4.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 30, 2012
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Snowy Cribyn seen from Craig Cwm Sere on the shoulder of Pen y Fan.

Image credit: A. Brookes (14.4.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 30, 2012
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The Brecon Beacons ‘other two’.... Cribyn is left, Fan y Big, site of an excavated Bronze Age cremation burial, to the right. The viewpoint is west of the Lower Neuadd Reservoir.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 2, 2010
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The striking Cribyn from just below and to the north of the summit of Pen y Fan. Here, the ‘right’ position for the funerary cairn was deemed to be the summit. Fan y Big rises above to the immediate right, site of an excavated cremation burial.... hence (for me) the probability that Cribyn’s cairn was not funerary appears remote.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Oct 2, 2010
Image of Cribyn (Cairn(s)) by GLADMAN

The obligatory ‘walkers’ cairn’ surmounts the remnants of a [probable] Bronze Age cairn at the 2,608ft summit of Cribyn. The similarly endowed peaks beyond are Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2010

Articles

Miscellaneous

Cribyn
Cairn(s)
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jul 10, 2010

The 2,608ft summit of Cribyn (sometimes also referred to as Cribin) is generally considered in South Wales to bear the remnants of a Bronze Age burial cairn. Indeed, situated as it is between two excavated examples upon nearby Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du to the west, and an excavated cremation burial upon Fan y Big to the east, it would (arguably) have been very unlikely not to have been chosen in this respect – particularly bearing in mind Cribyn’s topographical profile and status as one of the Breacon Beacons’ ‘Big Three’.

The aforementioned Bronze Age cairns gracing Pen-y-Fan and Corn Du were subsequently protected – following excavation – from further erosion through the construction of overlying modern cairns; not so Cribyn, which, as far as I’m aware remains unexcavated and at the mercy of walker’s boots. It is now surmounted by a feeble ‘walker’s cairn’ and, according to a recent survey by The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, considered to be at great risk of being lost for ever:-

CPAT Project – Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites, 2005/06: Breconshire:

“....encouragingly, the majority of sites (86%) are considered to be subject to a low impact threat, with 12% subject to a medium impact threat, and only one site with a high impact threat, which is the summit cairn on Cribyn (PRN 4560).”

It therefore seems somewhat paradoxical to encourage visitors to this fragile site ... but since this monument is currently sitting in the realms of ‘who gives a monkey’s land’, raising public awareness, I think, is the only way forward. If you fancy it – and bear in mind this is a serious mountain walk requiring all standard precautions – The AA have published walk guidance notes at:

theaa.com/walks/the-brecon-beacons-from-the-neuadd-reservoirs-420064

Incidently, these state that “The summits of Pen y Fan, Corn Du and Cribyn were once all crowned with Bronze-Age burial cairns, probably dating back to around 1800 bc. It’s clear that the mountains held some significance, even way back then”.

Sites within 20km of Cribyn