The Welsh Government’s historic environment service Cadw will remain part of Welsh Government for the foreseeable future, Culture Minister Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas confirmed today... continues...
A Bill To Make History – Legislation To Protect Wales’ Past To Become Law
Summary of the Bill’s provisions
To give more effective protection to listed buildings and scheduled monuments
Extension of the definition of a scheduled monument
The Welsh Ministers will be able to recognise and protect any nationally important sites that provide evidence of past human activity... continues...
A new law to protect historical monuments and buildings in Wales aims to make it more difficult for those who damage them to escape prosecution.
It comes after 119 cases of damage to sites between 2006 and 2012 resulted in only one successful prosecution... continues...
Tax bill paid with 2,000-year-old Iron Age fire guard
"A 2,000-year-old Iron Age fire guard has been accepted into Wales' national museum in lieu of inheritance tax.
The Capel Garmon Firedog, once one of a pair on the hearth of a chieftain's roundhouse, is regarded as one of the finest surviving prehistoric iron artefacts in Europe."
Michaelmas Day was formerly regarded with suspicion in Wales. It was credited with uncanny power. There was an old superstition that on this night the Cistfaens, or warriors' graves, in all parts of the Principality were illuminated by spectral lights, and it was very unlucky to walk near those places on Michaelmas Eve or Night; for on those two occasions the ghosts of ancient warmen were engaged in deadly fray around their lonely resting-places. (C. D. and Family Collection.)
A selection of (mostly) Bronze Age upland cairns to be found under 2,000ft in that wondrous country know as 'Wales'. They said it couldn't be done. Hey, but The Citizen Cairn laughs in the face of adversity.
The List of Historic Place Names of Wales is a groundbreaking and innovative resource that contains hundreds of thousands of place names collected from historical maps and other sources. It provides a fascinating insight into the land-use, archaeology and history of Wales.
This autumn Plas Glyn-y-Weddw is delighted to present an outstanding group of views in Snowdonia by John Piper from the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales.
Our entire back catalogue is available through our bookshop.All out of print titles are now available as eBooks via Google Play with inventories published before 1965 being free of charge.
Not strictly megalithic, but anyone who has stood on one of Wales' high places and wondered "what's that big pointy hill over there?" should find it of interest.
A Welsh web site that has grown out of the publication of the very popular book 'Meini Meirionnydd'. The site is currently under development but will eventually have information in Welsh about the Pre-history monuments of Wales.
One of the seven wonders of Glamorgan is the tumulus near the Bodvoc Stone on Margam Mountain. It is called the "Twmpath Diwlith" - the dewless mound. Tradition tells us that no dew ever falls on this mound.
In the 'Glamorgan Gazette', 5th September 1924.
also (warning, does get a bit bitchy):
Folklore of the District. (By Martin Phillips.)
Camden, in his "Britannia" (1610) remarks: 'In the very top of an hill called Mynyd Margan, there is erected of exceeding hard grit, a monument or gravestone, four foot long, and one foot broad with an inscription, which whosoever shall happen to read, the ignorant common people dwelling there about, give it out upon a credulous error, that he shall be sure to die within a little while after. Let the reader therefore look to himself, if any dare read it, for, let him assure himself that he shall for certain die after it.'
Writing in 1722, Daniel Defoe ('Tour through England and Wales') makes the following comment: 'In this neighbourhood, near Mynydd Margam, we saw the famous monument mentioned by Mr Camden, on a hill, with the inscription which the people are so terrified at, that nobody will care to read it; for they have a tradition from father to son, that whoever ventures to read it, will die within a month. We did not scruple the adventure at all, but when we came to try, the letters were so defaced by time, that we were effectually secured from the danger, the inscription not being anything near so legible as it seems it was in Camden's time.'
The inscription is still perfectly legible, and presumably the mountain climb did not appeal to Defoe who frequently expressed his abhorrence of Welsh antiquities and Welsh mountains, and apparently, he had no desire to risk the deciphering of the 'terrifying' inscription. Incidentally he has been described by a recent writer as 'one of the world's greatest liars, with a peculiar art for making fictitious narrative sound like the truth'. Defoe's description of other Welsh antiquities confirms the statement.
The Bodvoc stone was believed to cover buried treasure, and about sixty years ago a wide hole about five feet deep was dug around it at night. The stone was overthrown, and for a long period was covered with water. It was subsequently set up in an upright position, and the erection of an iron railing protected it from further harm. Guarding the alleged treasure was the inevitable ghost, which was said to be that of the departed Bodvoc.
Near the stone is the huge mound known as 'Y Twmpath Diwllith' (the Dewless Mound), which was erroneously considered to be always immune from dew. The word 'Diwllith' became translated to 'Dewless', but apparently it is a corruption of "Duw-lith" (God's Lesson). The mound is situated on the boundary line between Llangynvyd and Margam parishes, and in former times, during the yearly perambulation of the boundary, the customary lesson was read by the priest when the mound was reached.
This large Bronze Age funerary monument forms yet another piece of the (very) extensive Pumlumon jigsaw, set upon a 1,493 feet high hilltop overlooking Llyn Craig-y-pistyll, some 4.5 miles west(ish) of Pen Pumlumon-Fawr.
Now The Citizen Cairn had thought he'd seen all Pumlumon has to offer over the years... so it just goes to show that: 1) experience doesn't necessarily stop one from acting like a muppet... thinking you know it all, right?; 2) the plethora of Pumlumon's prehistoric riches would appear to know no bounds; 3) just because nothing is shown upon the map... doesn't necessarily mean there is nothing more to find.
But of course, tangible prehistoric reminders such Pen Craig y Pistyll's cairn are but an excuse - albeit an immensely rewarding one for their own sake - to get out and about upon unfamiliar (or, indeed, familiar) hills and take in that wild vibe. Here, as it happens, the initial impression upon arrival at the start of the walk is not exactly salubrious: the stark, ruined miner's barracks of the former Bwlchglas Lead Mine most certainly NOT a sight for sore eyes. Persevere, however, since a short, steep climb sees the traveller soon arrive at a well-made byway heading for Bwlch yr Adwy. These tracks are not my thing, however, so an ascent of the hillside to the immediate south beckons... and thus Pen Craig y Pistyll.
It would be rude not to make the continuation across the bwlch to view another round barrow at SN71978691 before sweeping westward back to the start. Just saying. Now being an English Gentleman - and having no wish to consciously offend - that is exactly what I did
Crowning the (unnamed?) hill immediately overlooking Bwlch yr Adwy to the north, this deceptively substantial, grassy monument complements beautifully the cairn crowning Pen Craig-y-Pistyll to the south-west.... and boasts equally excellent views looking east towards the main Pumlumon ridge and west for Cardigan Bay.
Stating the obvious, I guess... but incorporate both within a high-level horseshoe walk starting from Bwlch-glas and you not only avoid the idiot trail bikers playing 'broom brooms' down below, but will enjoy some pretty exquisite views into the bargain.
Unmarked upon existing OS mapping, this is a rather fine cist set in the locale of the Teifi Pools... source of the river... tucked between the extended 'Green Desert' of Cwmdeuddwr and Pumlumon.
Coflein notes:
"Located just off the crest of a ridge on W-facing sloping ground at 405m above OD, near the head of a stream valley. The cairn is a turf-covered stony mound measuring 6m in diameter and 0.5m high. The body of the cairn contains some small boulders. At its centre lies a rifled cist. It consists of four upright and leaning slabs and measures internally 1.18m (N-S) by 0.72m. The capstone, perhaps broken up or removed, is no longer visible." [D.K.Leighton 29 March 2005]
Travellers approaching the great cemetery upon Moel y Llyn from the east will, naturally, encounter this 'bonus' pair of cairns as a rather splendid hors d'oeuvres.
Coflein reckons:
"One of two closely-spaced cairns located one above the other on the rising south-east side of a col below the eastern slopes of Moel y Llyn, close to a track and a forestry boundary. The lower (westernmost) of the two measures 11m (NE-SW) by 9m and 0.5m high on the uphill side, 2m above the track which passes by on the north-west...." [David Leighton, RCAHMW, 12 June 2012]
The most satisfying discovery of an out-and-back walk from NantyMaen to Bryn Cosyn - not least due to its excellent positioning overlooking the Groes Fawr - this monument also features the remnants of a cist. Hey, Coflein postulates more than one, but there you are:
"Denuded kerb cairn with the remains of one and possibly two cists". [J.Wiles 31.01.02]