St Lythans – catching up with the 'Lair of the She Wolf'...
Well, it would be rude not to drop in having spent some more quality time at Tinkinswood, right?
GLADMAN
Located a little south of the substantial Gaer Fawr enclosure, this is shown upon OS mapping and, despite Coflein’s reticence to assign a prehistoric providence (possibly due to the surmounting apparent field clearance), I reckon the footprint is pretty conclusive.
Call this visit a belated Christmas present from old St. Nick lodged just up the road. Apparently.
As bonus sites go, this is surely up there with the best?
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
If this isn’t a long cairn I’ll eat my hat.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Chamber ‘B’. The capstone is immediately to the right of the orthostats.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Chamber ‘A’ with Gilman Camp in profile beyond.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Chamber ‘B’. The dislodged capstone can be seen to the left.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Chanber ‘A’: more-or-less intact, with dislodged capstone
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Chamber ‘A’. Gilman Camp can be seen rising beyond...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
42 years after my last vist to Pendine... I’m back. And this time it’s, er, archaeological...
Despite there being no reference to this ‘long cairn’ upon Coflein, I must admit this ticked every consideration ‘box’ I look for nowadays. It’s therefore of interest to note that the good people at Dyfed Archaeological Trust feel the same way – PRN 11430 states:
“A well preserved trapezoidal long cairn, orientated SW-NE, with the broadest end looking NE. The tail end of the monument faces SW and looks out to the sea, whilst tapering to a width of 5m. At the end of the tomb which increases to a width of 8m, there appears to be a shallow forecourt area, 3.5m wide and 3.5m deep, which is delimited on either side by two distinct horns. In other similar monument traditions (e.g the Cotswold-Severn tombs) this forecourt area is generally considered to be the spatial focus of the ceremonial and ritual activities which took place at these sites during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The forecourt also looks towards the edge of the limestone escarpment immediately below which, Tomb D (3825) is located, which makes use of the natural outcrop for part of its form. A central spine runs along the length of the cairn and there are indications of the tumble of some of the cairn material on both sides. Although there is no immediately apparent evidence for an orthostatic chamber or passage within the monument, it is possible that there may be one or more cist chambers within the body of the cairn material instead, a feature familiar at other Neolithic long cairns known from a Welsh context. There is some damage at the SW end of the cairn where the cairn appears to have been dug into on both sides, 2 metres in from the tail. All the evidence points to this site as being a genuine Neolithic long cairn rather than a more modern clearance cairn. Bestley PFRS 2001”
A visit to the iconic 'Goat's Hole' cave, Paviland
Experience is a wonderful thing, so they say. So, this time I do it right. Just about.
As hors d’oeuvres go, they don’t come much better than this. I re-visit the cliff fort perched above the enigmatic ‘Goat’s Hole’...
Traces of ‘archaeological matting’ out of shot extreme bottom left indicate the former final resting place of the ‘Red Laddie’ some 33/34k years ago now [natural light, 13 second exposure]
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
From within. I swear one could sit here all day. But best not... unless one can abseil. Or happen to be Aquaman.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
From the cave entrance [natural light, approx 8 seconds exposure]
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking from the path traversing Foxhole Slade... the cave is within the cliff face (approx centre) accessed to the left.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking down Foxhole Slade. The fort is top right, the tide well and truly ‘in’.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The wondrous cave is out of sight below.... but not out of mind.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
With the wind a’blowing some knots I don’t mind admitting a fair degree of vertigo. One assumes the former inhabitants were not prone to sleepwalking?
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Incidentally, the evocative Craig-y-Dullfan might just be made out centre left... or not. My eyes are no longer that good.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
My mama told me, there’d be days like this. Not very often on Pumlumon, mind. Hopefully, TMA will be seeing a lot more in the future.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking approx southwest near the summit of Tal-y-Fan towards the northern Carneddau. The great cairns of Carnedd Y Ddelw (right) and Carnedd Pen y Borth Goch (left) allow Llwytmor and Foel-fras to shine... well, glow as these rise above.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Towards ‘the rest’ of Y Carneddau from a rather hostile Tal-y-Fan. Just the way it should be.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Gazing towards Conwy Bay from Tal-y-Fan. There’s a lot going on down there, enough to interest any period-head, I’d have thought? For the Antiquarian, the hillforts Dinas Allt-wen and Castell Caer Seion can be seen centre and right, The Great Orme bringing up the rear, so to speak. Foel Lus is to the left.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Towards the site of the ‘axe factory’... and destroyed hill fort... from Tal-y-Fan
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
A pair of round barrows near Sherrington, Wiltshire
Two bowl barrows apparently about a quarter mile west of Mount Pleasant. Or south of Sherrington....
Carn Bwlch-y-Cloddiau and Carnedd Fach (Esgair Wen)
A differing tale of two monuments to Bronze Age VIPs...
Pen y Gaer (the one near Llanaelhaearn) Llŷn Peninsula
Took a while to get to this one since the distant view from Gyrn Ddu suggested not much original walling was left. Wrong! Bit windy, though....
Northernmost 2,000ft summit of Y Carneddau... and all round Prehistoric Mother Hill for good measure.
The prehistoric footprint evident in the locale of the Mid Walian market town of Rhayader is much, much more extensive than many people perhaps realise. This horseshoe walk visits three of the arguably more obscure monuments.
Easily overlooked in the company of the great Carn Saith-wraith... but then... we Modern Antiquarians never take the easy option, right?
The location, overlooking the great, sinuous defile of Cwm Doethie, is superb, with surviving archaeology to match. Yeah, not only is the massive ‘composite ring cairn/round platform cairn’ some 70ft in diameter, it also has a pretty large neighbour to the southeast… all accessible from a stony track.
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