thesweetcheat

Capstone and potential moved orthostat.

There is a substantial broken slab underneath the capstone, though whether a fallen side slab or a broken piece of the cap itself I can’t say.

The massively thick capstone.

The fallen stone is at the foot of the telegraph pole. In failing winter light.

The “bonus” fallen stone. Badly overgrown, you need someone to point it out (and preferably produce some shears).

Showing the approx. position of the mound. The snowy peak to the left is Gallt yr Ogof, at the eastern end of Y Glyderau. The mountains filling the rest of the backdrop are the eastern Carneddau (Carnedd Llewelyn lost in cloud, centre). Viewpoint is the lower slopes of Moel Siabod to the southeast.

Wintery landscape context (position of cairns approximate), from Moel Siabod.

Moel Hebog (in shadow, centre) from Moel Siabod. The lake below is Llyn Dinas.

Pen Llithrig y Wrach (centre) seen from the northern slopes of Moel Siabod.

Towards the horsehoe across Llynnau Mymbyr. The top of Yr Wyddfa is missing in action today.

The rocky ridge of Daear Ddu rises diagonally across the picture. The summit cairn can be seen in the top right of the picture. The distant sunlit lake is Llyn Trawsfynydd. To the left of that, the Aranau and Cadair Idris lie under cloud.

Close-up of the wrecked cairn.

From this angle the cairn looks almost intact.

A more wintery version of Gladman’s earlier picture. The sun shines briefly on the cairn, seen from the summit trig.

Looking NE.

Looking north. The pointy mountain to the left of the cairn is the wonderfully named Pen Llithrig y Wrach (“Slippery Hill of the Witch”).

Looking from the centre of the hollowed cairn towards the high central Carneddau, where even more extremely situated cairns are hidden in the cloud today.

The possible cist-cap leans against the side of the shelter, itself created from the summit cairn. Looking NE.

Postie leads the final push to the summit cairn.

First sight of Moel Siabod, across Llyn Mymbyr from Plas y Brenin.

Early winter sees the vegetation nice and low on the mound.

Rampart at the SE end of the fort.

The central bank separating the NW and SE enclosures of the fort.

The northern rampart. Looking towards the neighbouring fort of Twyn y Gaer.

The impressive rampart at the northen end of the fort. Looking towards Pen y Fal (The Sugarloaf).

Looking down on Pen-Twyn camp from the southern ridge of Hatterall Hill.

Seen from Hatterall Hill, with Twyn y Gaer hillfort immediately in front.

The SW spur of Hatterall Hill. The cross dyke cuts off the spur on its “neck” and can just be seen as a dark, thin line.

Showing the rubble construction of the cross dyke.

Looking NW along the cross dyke.

Looking SE along the cross dyke. Ysgyryd Fawr on the right.

Looking south across the overgrown enclosure towards Ysgyryd Fawr (left) and The Sugarloaf (Pen y Fal, right).

The view NNW towards Twmpa and Gospel Pass up the Vale of Ewyas. The bank of the enclosure is in the foreground.

Standing on the overgrown bank of the enclosure (curving across the picture from bottom left), looking NW towards Waun Fach.

Looking east into England.

Looking northwest up the beautiful Vale of Ewyas.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Near invisible under dense heather, the cairn enjoys fine views. Looking south towards Hatterall Hill.

Hatterall Hill from the north. The enclosure is in the middle of the hill, slightly off the summit. The cross dyke cuts off the promontory to the right. Pen y Fal (The Sugarloaf) can be seen to the far right.

Some landscape context, from the southeast (near the 552m trig point north of Rhiw Arw).

Looking north. Erosion can be seen on the western side of the cairn.

Looking towards the western Black Mountains. Be-cairned Pen Cerrig-calch can be seen on the left skyline, Pen y Gadair Fawr and Waun Fach over to the right.

Looking south across the overgrown top of the cairn. The shapely Sugarloaf (Pen y Fal) provides the backdrop.

Approaching from the north.

One of the larger blocks has what appears to be a cup-mark. It’s probably natural, but cup-marked stones are not unknown in this area.

The original footprint of the cairn is much larger than the stone shelter suggests. Looking towards Black Hill and the Cat’s Back ridge.

There are a number of small upright slabs within the mound, but nothing I could hand on heart say was the cist referred to on Coflein. Apologies for the rubbish blurry photo, it was raining and very windy!

The larger footprint underneath the shelter.