
Cwm Croesor and Cnicht.
Cwm Croesor and Cnicht.
Lovely Cwm Croesor, a settlement site for over 2000 years.
What looked to me like a hut circle can be seen immediately above the lowest placed sheep. Cnicht rises into the mist.
Cnicht from the southwest. There are a few scattered hut circles around these rocky spurs and ridges. Some place for a home!
Looking down upon Cwm Croesor from the wondrous Y Cnicht.... the hut circle at SH63834537 lies on the near side of the Afon Croesor opposite the prominent buildings of Croesor Fawr (lower centre left). There is another site upon the ascent ridge (centre extreme far right – SH64034548). Incidentally the lovely Afon Dwyryd can be seen making its way to Tremadog Bay, top.
Despite bearing the (sadly far too common) scars of past years’ industrial activity Cwm Croesor remains a great place to be... in more ways than one. Morever it seems it has always been thus, a number of hut circles having been identified and logged by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust in the immediate environs of the valley. The wonderfully shapely peak of Y Cnicht – the name apparently a reference to a knight’s helmet (there is indeed a resemblance from certain angles) – dominates to the north, presenting as fine a profile as you could ask for from the south-west. The equally substantial heights of Moelwyns Fawr and Bach form the southern flank, the village of Croesor perhaps the archetypal cure for insomniacs at the entrance to the cwm. Yeah, a good place to be for lovers of the Welsh landscape with an affinity for perhaps detecting the faint ‘echoes’ of those who came before...
Travellers in the mood for a walk through the cwm may be skillful/lucky enough to encounter one of the aforementioned hut circles near the northern bank of the Afon Croesor at SH63834537, that is opposite the prominent buildings of Croesor Fawr on the other side of the river. According to GAT this is:
‘near an old barn....a small but well defined hut circle on a platform.‘
Another hut circle, with associated field system, can be visited upon the ascent of Y Cnicht’s south-western ridge from Croesor itself (a highly recommended walk, but please take the usual precautions) at SH64034548. Again, GAT states:
‘On a shelf is a very well defined but with double orthostatic walling (sic). The hut is built on a shelf, with a built-up front, and the walling goes around the upper edge of the back scarp.‘
Sources: Smith, G., 1998, Hut Circle Settlement Survey; Bloor, G., 1985, Archaeology in Wales.