Images

Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by thesweetcheat

Artfully concealing the Expressway of Death.

Image credit: A. Brookes (13.9.2014)
Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by thesweetcheat

Decent barrow, worth risking near-death for.

Image credit: A. Brookes (13.9.2014)
Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by postman

Looking over the barrow to cairn and barrow topped Moel-y-Parc on the right and Penycloddiau hill fort on the left.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by postman

Looking over the barrow to the A55 duel carriage way and its junction with the A5151 and the A5122.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by postman

Coflein and a better map says that an enclosure of indeterminate age is in the woods over the barrow, possibly iron age i’d say.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
Image of Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen (Round Barrow(s)) by postman

Been passing this barrow ever since the road was laid, so it’s taken a while to get out of the car.

Image credit: Chris Bickerton

Articles

Ffrith-Y-Garreg-Wen

As soon as the A55 duel carriage way fully opened, North Wales got a whole lot closer, on a good day the Clwydian range is just an hour away, and Snowdonia another half hour. So you can imagine how many times Ive passed by within a hundred feet of this large barrow, but the short cut to it is fraut with many perils, consequently it’s taken half my adult life to stop and run across the road for a quick look and go see.
To be fair there is a less dangerous route to it from the west by the roundabout and Cafe, but it is twice as far to walk as the short cut, the lazy git in me always prefers a short cut, there just so much shorter.
So, you come off the A55 at the Caerwys junction, like your heading for the Mcdonalds, but go past it (unless your hungry), and park on the left by an entrance to a small nature preserve. Cross over the road and jump the bramble ridden barbed wire topped fence into the field. Cross the field, going towards the A55, jump the fence and your next to the road, four lanes and a central barrier now need to be crossed. Here comes the peril, close your eyes tight shut, wait for the sound of racing cars to die down and run across waving yor hands wildly in the air. It’s just an option.
As we waited for a brake in the traffic a police car went past and I wondered if this was legal, having made it safely to the other side another fence jump and were just fifty yards from the barrow.
It’s a big barrow, sat upon a slight ridge overlooking the Vale of Clwyd and the highly forted mountain range there. It has a very good view to the south and a better one to the west.
If you stand in the right place the top of the barrow is a foot higher than me, and on the other side of it a foot shorter than me. If you stand on the top of the barrow you can see Mcdonalds.
There are many other barrows in the vicinty some up to three meters tall, some with ditches, some in bunches, and some in bushes. In the trees immediately south east is an ancient enlosure of undetermined (by Coflein) date.
I’ll be back.

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