Cwm Moel

Nearest town:
Merthyr Tydfil (5km SE)
OS reference:
SO036115
OS sheet:
160
Latitude:
51° 47' 35.98 N
Longitude:
3° 23' 52.63 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Cwm Moel burnt mound. The cairns, hut circles and fieldsystem cover the slope on the right. The hill straight ahead is Cefn Cil-Sanws, with its own substantial cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 28, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Detail of stonework at the disturbed centre of the southern cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 28, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Larger, possibly burial cairn at the southern end of the site. The burnt mound is straight ahead, but out of sight due to the contour of the ground.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 28, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Group of small (clearance?) cairns at the southern, downslope part of the site.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 28, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Circular feature towards the south of the site. Coflein places only cairns in this area, but with what appears to be an embanked perimeter, this looks more like a ruined hut circle.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 28, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Field bank, running from bottom left to middle right. Coflein places this as being contemporary with the hut circles, cairns, etc.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Prehistoric building platform. Looking ENE. The stones visible on the right appear to intended to revet the southern (downslope) side of the platform, which has been cut into the slope.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Another representative example of a small (presumably clearance) cairn within the site.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

Representative example of clearance cairn within the site. Looking south.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012
Image of Cwm Moel (Barrow / Cairn Cemetery) by thesweetcheat

One of the larger Cwm Moel cairns, at the northern (uphill) part of the site. Looking SW towards Cefn Cil-Sanws.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2012)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012

Articles

Miscellaneous

Cwm Moel
Barrow / Cairn Cemetery
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Sep 27, 2012

Another incredible concentration of prehistoric remains cover the slopes of Cwm Moel, with little to mark its existence on the Ordnance Survey map.

There are c.30 cairns (mostly clearance, but with some probable burial cairns intermixed), several hut circles and building platforms of prehistoric date, as well as field system remains.

There is also a single burnt mound at SO03811154, the only element of these remnants to make it onto the OS 1/25000 (Explorer). Coflein description:

A cooking mound is located on the W bank of a stream. The crescentic mound measures 14m (NE-SW) by 10.7m. Open to the stream on the SE, it is about 11m across the ‘horn’ tips. A track crosses the NE edge of the mound reducing it somewhat, but the SE side survives to a height of 1m.

Sites within 20km of Cwm Moel