GLADMAN

The central barrow. The ‘star on a pole’ is the standard MOD marker signifying ‘protected status’... i.e don’t drive a bloody tank over it, you muppet!

Mighty Carn Owen from another monument to the south-west overlooking Bwlch Yr Adwy (SN71978691)

Things are often not what they appear to be in Ceredigion... looking from just west of Cwmystwyth, the apparently benign green hills to the south actually form a pretty extreme Bronze Age cemetery. (NB – it’s Llan Ddu Fawr, of course)

From the approx west – there’s no hint of what lies up upon the crags to right

Craig y Lluest viewed from within the fledgling Afon Ystwyth at the head of Cwm Ystwyth.

The monument is centre right(ish) of image. Banc Llechwedd-mawr rises above – this being Pumlumon – inevitably crowned by cairns of its own.

The site overlooks Bwlch yr Adwy, viewed from Cripiau Bwlch-glas

Looking across Bwlch yr Adwy to Pen Craig-y-Pistyll...

Looking approx west to Cripiau Bwlch-glas and Bwlch-glas

The main ridge of Pumlumon rises beyond

A hint of stonework within the substantial footprint of a round barrow now fusing with the very hilltop upon which it stands

The monument lies, camouflaged by its grassy mantle, in plain sight upon the (apparently) unnamed top centre of image – looking from Pen Craig-y-Pistyll across Bwlch yr Adwy. Carn Owen, featuring another significant cairn, rises immediately beyond. The main ridge of Pumlumon looms top right.

Pen Pumlumon-Fawr rises top right... every top in frame possesses at least one substantial cairn... quite exceptional.

Looking across Llyn Craig-y-Pistyll to Disgwylfa Fawr... the enigmatic ‘Watching Place’, where wooden ‘dug-out’ canoes were interred as grave goods. Pumlumon really is upon another level altogether...

Towards Cardigan Bay, with Y Tarenau looming top right.

Beautiful location... with a neighbour just across the bwlch. Couldn’t really ask for more.

Nice footprint on this......

Curiously, neither Coflien nor CADW mention the large prostrate stone. So what is that all about?

As usual, a ‘marker cairn’ surmounts the extensive fabric of the cairn. There is a central depression, but otherwise, the cairn appears pretty much intact?

The site is approx centre of image, looking from Cripiau Bwlch-glas. Bwlch yr Adwy is far left.

The twin cairns of Carn Hyddgen are readily apparent descending into the wondrously untrodden Cwm Gwerin from Pen Pumlumon-Arwystli. In my experience, the cwm is arguably the wildest, most hard-going underfoot in all Wales.

One of the far smaller cairns clustering around the three primary monuments... this one alongside the central cairn

The massive northern ‘ring cairn’.......

The massive northern monument... note the central stone pile standing within the ring cairn.

Southern cairn from the central, with Pen Pumlumon-Fawr looming not far off 2 miles distant. Y Garn can just been discerned almost a further one and a  half miles beyond. This truly is a magnificent upland Bronze Age landscape.

An arc of the northern cairn, looking towards the central monument. The distinct lack of surface stone to the right of image here strongly suggested this is indeed a massive ring cairn.

Highlighting the massive arc of the northern ‘ring cairn’...

Central cairn from the great bulk of the southern... note the idiot shelter defacing the right-hand arc of the former.

Despite the vandalism, these are truly magnificent upland cairns

The northern ‘ring cairn’ – at c65ft, Coflein has this and the southern monument possessing the same diameter, although, curiously, CADW’s scheduling rates the southern cairn at ‘only’ 59ft.

The central cairn – boasting the largest diameter of the trio