Twyn Blaenant

Also known as:
Carn Buarth Maen and Twyn Blaen-nant
Nearest town:
Aberdare (3km WSW)
OS reference:
SO02540438
OS sheet:
170
Latitude:
51° 43' 44.91 N
Longitude:
3° 24' 40.76 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking northeast across the ring cairn. The bank is visible in a few places where it stands above the snow, like the brown patch in the foreground.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015
Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking southeast across the ring. Gwersyll hillfort and platforms cairns are in the forestry on the hill to the right.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015
Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The ring cairn is not the easiest thing to photograph. The near-edge of the bank is marked by the spikier vegetation, left of centre. From there you can follow the arc round to the left, before it curves round just short of the other little bush, right of centre, before completing the circuit over on the right edge of the image. Looking down to the Cynon valley.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015
Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Lanscape context for the site of Carn Buarth Maen, looking ENE towards Merthyr Common. The cairn was recorded as being on the edge of the forestry, alongside the verge of the track.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015
Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Good luck to anyone trying to find Carn Buarth Maen under all this lot.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015
Image of Twyn Blaenant (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The “lost” cairn, Carn Buarth Maen, is/was here somewhere. It’s very overgrown and the snow makes identifying any stonework practically impossible.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.11.2015)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 12, 2015

Articles

Miscellaneous

Twyn Blaenant
Ring Cairn
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Nov 22, 2015

There was (is?) a further cairn uphill from here, to the NNE. If it still exists it’s lost on the verge of a forestry track.

From GGAT:

Carn Buarth Maen (SO0269104854)
Possible cairn, appearing as a low indistinct mound entirely covered with thick tussocks of grass; stone can be felt underneath. Edges most clearly marked at S and E; fade out on N and W. On the verge at the S of a forest ride, at the top of an E-facing slope. Dimensions: ?5.6m diameter; c 0.2m high
(1976) Now in a forestry plantation; nothing could be found (RCAHMW)
(1999) Cairn as noted on OS 6 inch 1st edition 1885 map. No visible presence; possibly destroyed by the FE or perhaps it is located within dense tree cover.

Miscellaneous

Twyn Blaenant
Ring Cairn
C
CARL Aug 22, 2013

Visited 21.8.13

Directions:
See directions for Mynydd Aberdare. Once you have parked up follow the edge of the trees south (along a rough track) and the Cairn is a just before you reach the electricity pylons.
Assuming you can spot it of course!

In a nutshell I couldn’t find it!
The ground here is undulating and covered in long, rough grass.
Good luck if you come looking. Even Coflein says it is ‘barely visible’.

Coflein states:
‘This 14m diameter ring cairn is surrounded by a 0.2m high circular turf-covered stone bank with a gap in S side. The cairn is barely visible. Sited on S moorland slopes under rough grass’

Sites within 20km of Twyn Blaenant

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