Maybe it's relevant, maybe it's not, but there are a number of distinctive conical hills near Old Radnor: Stanner Rocks, Worsell Wood, Hanter Hill. Apparently these contain some of the oldest rocks in Wales - Precambrian and 700 million years old. Old Radnor was called 'Pen-y-Graig': 'head of the rock'. The geology means Stanner Rocks supports some pretty strange and rare plants, and it was said: "by the common people it is called the Devil's Garden." You can't help wondering where the stones for the local monuments came from. Probably.
"The Cambrian Balnea: Or Guide to the Watering Places of Wales, Marine and Inland" by Thomas Jeffery Llewelyn Prichard (1825).
Extracted from "Betwixt & Between" by Mary Dodsworth and Iain Steele in "The Cauldron" no.115), themselves drawing on "The Folklore of Radnorshire" by Roy Palmer :-
Beguildy church, on raised site by River Teme, probably a B.A. settlement.
Bleddfa church on a B.A. mound.
Bryngwyn: The Six Stones near N boundary of village is a stone circle of ~12 stones.
Llanfihangel Cascob cut into a burial mound.
Llanfihangel Cefnllys a B.A. site. I.A. fort on Cefnllys Hill turned into mediaeval castle.
Discoed church south of a five millenium old yew - a circular site about an antient mound and a Neolithic tree.
Disserth church a circular site with a well nearby formerly dressed with mistletoe.
Kinnerton church within an earlier circular wall. By the road to Old Radnor there is a standing stone.
Llanbister church has tower behind altar, at the E end. Sulfur well overlooks church.
Llandegley church very late, healing well on Cymaron riverbank side nearby.
Llandeio Graban tower bedroom for last Welsh dragon.
Llandewi Ystradenni. Giant's burial at Tomen Beddugre nearby.
Llanelwedd church has thity tumuli within half-a-mile and a lost standing stone.
Llanfihangel Nant Melan ringed by ancient yews, with one holding solitary remnant of a stone circle.
Nantmel church has 6 two millenia old yews in precinct. 2 standing stones called the Devil's Clogs on nearby Tan-y-cefn farm.
Old Radnor church font cut from fifth stone of Four Stones group at edge of Kinnerton-Walton road. In 1994 a vast stone circle revealed from the air in the Radnor valley - probably defined by 1400 oaks, it covers 34 hectares but doesn't have a precise location !
Pilleth church has well behind that was resorted to by people with eye problems.
St. Harmon chuch first dedication in Wales, but he wasn't buried in Bedd Harmon near it. Two stone circles also near, though Cwm y Saeson only has two stones left out of 14 and that on Hendre Rhiw farm only one of 5. Dogs and people treated by sulfur spring on Temple Bar farm.
Whitton church lies in an earlier circular llan.
Although my suspicions were aroused following the subsequent identification of what I'd taken to be unrecorded 'round barrows' upon Egsair Rhiwlan (immediately to the SE) as the impact residue of shells from a former WW1 artillery range... it would appear the monument to be found here is indeed the real deal. Sweet.
Coflein has this to say:
"A circular, grassy mound, 7m in diameter and 0.6m high. It has a thin peat cover but slight erosion shows that the main body of the mound is composed of earth and stone. It is located on a flat, broad hill summit, overlooking the Elan valley. When visited in June 2009 the area was used for rough grazing and vegetation cover was grass. [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 9/9/2009]"
If obscure hangs away from the tourist bustle of Cwmdeuddwr are your thing, they don't come much better for such limited effort than this little round barrow.
A bit of an enigma, this: old maps clearly show some 'structure' - presumably a cairn - standing beside the old Monks' Trod, a byway linking the heart of Elenydd with Ffair-Rhos and Strata Florida to the west. However..... deciding to go and have a look upon a very inclement 23/7/2020 I found... well, very little, to be fair. The barest hint of a stone pile amongst the carnage caused by lazy muppets in their shiny new 4x4s engaged in '1mph off-road experiences'. Such thrills! Yeah, whatever.
Nevertheless, well worth the walk from Pont ar Elan across the summit plateau of Esgair Rhiwlan - or, if you prefer, follow the lower level green track. Incidentally, the 'mounds' I discovered upon Esgair Rhiwlan are apparently shell impact residue from a WW1 artillery range once located here! Just so you know.
Coflein has this to say:
"Carn Ricet is a possible prehistoric cairn that is now denuded, turf-covered, and hard to define. It is disturbed by a trackway... and the small amount of stone visible on the surface would appear to be the remains of a more recent cairn marking the boundary of a sheepwalk and possibly the line of a drovers' road. [J.J. Hall, Trysor, 18/1/2010]"
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]