Blaneau-draw

Nearest town:
Crickhowell (9km ESE)
OS reference:
SO16782622
OS sheet:
161
Latitude:
51° 55' 40.1 N
Longitude:
3° 12' 37.51 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

It would appear only the sheep – the odd CPAT surveyor notwithstanding – come here.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 24, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Not shown on either scale OS map, I blundered to this beautiful cairn looking for another.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 24, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

The monument mirrors a far less well defined cairn upon the south-eastern ridge of Mynydd Troed, across Cwm Sorgwm. The play of light upon the landscape will never be exactly replicated again, the shutter capturing a micro-second of what it is to live in The British Isles

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 24, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Pretty substantial cairn, to be fair... perched right upon the edge of the escarpment.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 14, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

A crack in the clouds lets light flood onto the landscape beyond.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 14, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

The cairn occupies a wonderful location...

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 14, 2017
Image of Blaneau-draw (Round Cairn) by GLADMAN

Not shown on either the current 1:25 or 1:50k OS map... this is so clearly a prehistoric cairn it’s reassuring to find the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust do in fact have this logged as such (PRN12365). Here we look across Cwm Sorgwm to Mynydd Troed.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 14, 2017

Articles

Miscellaneous

Blaneau-draw
Round Cairn
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 20, 2018

I more-or-less quite literally stumbled across this cairn, exquisitely perched upon the very edge of the escarpment overlooking the farm of Blaneau-draw, Cwm Sorgwm, whilst heading for the cairn at SO16562612. Indeed, since it is not annotated upon either the current 1:50k or 1:25k OS map, I assumed the larger monument had been mis-represented. Suffice to say it has not.

CPAT offers a little clarity:

“About 350 m W.S.W. from..” [SO16562612].. “410 m above O.D. on a terrace 15 m below the ridge top is a small Old Red Sandstone, badly disturbed, flat mound about 7 m in diameter 0.6 m high”. [Roese, Thesis, no. 166. RCAHMW, 1995]

So, structurally speaking, not the finest Bronze Age upland cairn you’ll ever encounter. But I hereby challenge anyone with a passion for the way the ever-changing light plays upon our uplands to not be moved by the placement of this beguiling pile of old stones.

Sites within 20km of Blaneau-draw

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