Images (6)
Miscellaneous (3)
Topics (1)

Images

Not the best of pictures, but here’s one of the “ornamental” iron discs that formed part of the IA hoard. In the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.11.2011)

thesweetcheat Jan 20, 2013

The Nant Cadair making its energetic way down from Cwm Cau.... keep a look out should you ever come. I mean, you never know what you might find beneath a boulder, do you?

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Jan 19, 2013

The wondrous Llyn Cau cradled in its rocky cwm, high up upon Cadair Idris. I understand it was near the outflow of this lake, Nant Cadair – seen making its way to valley floor far left – that the ‘Tal-y-Llyn hoard’ was discovered by members of the public.... just imagine.... ‘Mummy, I’ve found some old bits of metal’.... ‘That’s nice dear. Go put them back now and drink up your Idris cherryade’. Needless to say we’ll never know whether the hoard represented a votive offering, perhaps ‘retrieved’ from either Llyn Mwyngil.... or indeed, Llyn Cau.... or ‘scrap’ being spirited away for ‘recycling’ from some other source? Intriguing.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Jan 19, 2013

The plaque recovered from the flanks of Cadair Idris above Llyn Mwyngi, Tal-y-Llyn... suggest a visit to see it at The National Museum of Wales would be worthwhile.

Image credit: (presumably) National Museum of Wales

GLADMAN Jan 19, 2013

Arguably a more representative image.... with rain on the way, the boats having lost formation upon the turbulent water.... the hoard was apparently discovered near the Nant Cadair, deep within Cadair Idris to the top left.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Jan 18, 2013

Looking north-east across Llyn Mwyngil, Tal-y-Llyn, toward Bwlch Llyn Bach upon the far horizon. The wondrous crags of Cadair Idris rear up to the left, the prominent ‘gash’ home to the Nant Cadair where – I understand – the hoard was discovered in 1963 (the locality is readilly accessible via The Minffordd Path to Cwm Cau, to my mind the finest of all ascents of Cadair Idris). The Tarren foothills rise to the right of the lake. The third of Wales’ great trio of Iron Age hoards now resides in The National Museum of Wales... but for me the knowledge of origin adds a certain ‘something’ to the aura of a visit here.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

GLADMAN Jan 18, 2013

Articles

Tal-y-Llyn

GLADMAN Jan 20, 2013

According to GAT (PRN 4699) Carn Arthur, a possible Crannog, can be found a little beyond the (current) south-western end of Llyn Mwyngil at SH71000900 – that is where the Afon Dysynni makes a loop near a weir:

‘Stony mound.....referred to in a reliable C19th account as being visible at low water and a good place to fish’. Sources: Peterson, R. & Roberts, J. G. , 1989 , Archaeology in Wales.

Haven’t seen it myself.

Tal-y-Llyn

thesweetcheat Jan 18, 2013

Another site added that gives me an excuse to extol the virtues of Susan Cooper’s “Dark Is Rising” sequence. The fourth part, The Grey King, features Llyn Mwyngil at its climax, where six knights (the “sleepers”) rise from the waters of the lake to overcome the power of the Brenin Llwyd, the Grey King of Cadair Idris.

The lake is also referred to in one of the poems that feature through the sequence: “By the pleasant lake the sleepers lie”.

Nearby hillforted Craig yr Aderyn features in the book as well.

Tal-y-Llyn

GLADMAN Jan 18, 2013

There have been – to my knowledge – three major discoveries of Iron Age hoards in Wales to date: namely within the Llyn Fawr above The Rhondda... at Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey..... and here-abouts.

The Llyn Fawr is strikingly evocative and Anglesey is, well, Anglesey; however the southern flank of Cadair Idris rising above Llyn Mwyngil (better known – unfortunately for those with due respect for the vernacular grammar – as Tal-y-Llyn Lake) is, in my opinion, a truly classic location of stunning aesthetic appeal, the craggy mountainside sweeping elegantly – albeit with a maverick ‘roughness’ anticipating the heights of central Snowdonia further north – down to lakeside from near enough 3,000ft. It’s a disappointment to note that the metal alloy artefacts deposited here were not actually recovered from the depths of the lake – as in Authurian lore – but from the nearby crags in 1963 (I understand in the vicinity of the Nant Cadair, outflow of the utterly wondrous Llyn Cau), hidden beneath a boulder... hence casting significant doubt as to whether the hoard represented a votive offering to the Celtic gods, or ill gotten gains stashed.... and never reclaimed. Hey, perhaps retrieved from the llyn by an unscrupulous rogue in search of a quick profit? (or, an intriguing thought.... was the primary origin actually Llyn Cau?) Who knows. Who will ever know? I reckon the latter, myself, bearing in mind the piece of ‘lock’. Still, the treasures now reside in The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. So go see ‘em, if you get the chance. But remember where they came from. Oh yes. The landscape that inspired the vision. And how...

Of primary interest is a trapezoid brass ‘repousse’ plaque, (according to the experts at the museum) apparently designed as one of a pair, representing a human face with ‘staring eyes, and finely combed hair, an image of striking quality’. The hoard also contained ‘fragments from two shields’, including a boss, some plates, perhaps originating from a ‘ceremonial cart’... and ‘part of a Roman lock’. However, the quality of workmanship notwithstanding, it is where the metalwork came from that, for me, engenders such interest, the salient detail that ensures such vitality of design and form ‘means what it says on the tin’ – or brass – that this was for real. If you should happen to find yourself standing at water’s edge here... take a long, lingering look at the rocky heights to left and right... note the chasm in the cliff line above Minffordd where flows the Nant Cadair.... and the high bwlch of Llyn Bach carrying the road toward Dolgellau to the north-east... and see what you think? Better still, put on the boots and have a wander up to Cwm Cau.

Incidentally a colour image of the plaque can be appreciated at:
museumwales.ac.uk/en/2352/