Images

Image of Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl) (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

A nice arc of footprint. The Black Mountains crown the distant skyline.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl) (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Two dodgy ‘marker cairns’ have been erected from the cairn material – plus a rather odd shelter – but, hey, there you are. Vandals.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl) (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

This is a substantial cairn in terms of footprint

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl) (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Looking approx east across the massive cairn towards Garth...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone

Articles

Miscellaneous

Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl)
Round Cairn

Now I must, first off, confess as to having been certain I’d been here – to this VERY substantial upland Bronze Age cairn – before... venturing south from Trembyd in thick hill fog some years earlier. Haha, yeah. Needless to say, the unexpected sight of a truly massive cairn upon the northern horizon as I head for Garth this time around – where I reckoned no cairn should be – was sufficient cause for re-appraisal. Conclusion: map reading muppetry resulting in a vapour-shrouded audience with Carn-y-Geifr (not Carn Wen) back in the day. Ahem.

To be fair Carn Wen is unmistakable... once one knows what it looks like, that is. A Bronze Age behemoth some 78ft in diameter, albeit a little defaced by a couple of small modern ‘marker’ cairns and a curious ‘shelter’, set upon a high plateau of billowing grass. As is the case with most of Wales’ other ‘White Cairns’ I have had the pleasure of visiting, this example is distinctly more of a ‘battleship grey’ hue. But none the worse for that, it has to be said.

All is quiet, save the equestrian – and rather striking – farmer’s wife met earlier in the day thundering past upon her mount. A good place to be and take in the vast skies for a while. Best not attempt it in mist though... just saying. Unless you can actually read a compass.

Coflein records:

“A cairn, 23.8m in diameter and 0.8m high, having three projecting stone platforms about its E perimeter. Two small recent cairns and a double shelter have taken their place upon the cairn.” [J.Wiles 23.04.02]

Sites within 20km of Carn Wen, Garth (Llanwrthwl)