Taken 20th July 2002: I took this as we walked away from Hemford Circle, looking north across two fields. I liked the way that the shape of the copse on the hill [Callow?] mirrored the circle underneath [barely visible I’m afraid, but so I’ve added a little red arrow pointing at the centre stone].
Taken 20th July 2002: In this shot (looking approximately south west) William is standing on the tiny outlying stone [probably a cairn], and Lou is standing in the cut grass between the outlying stone and the main circle. You can see how close to the stones the farmer must get with his tractor!
Taken 20th July 2002: This is what appears to be a tiny outlying stone [according to baza it’s part of a cairn], which was completely covered by tall grass. We only realised it was there because the farmer has left a small satellite circle of uncut grass next to the main circle. My foot is supposed to be for scale.
Taken 20th July 2002: Looking south west towards Corndon Hill (itself sprinkled with tumuli) you can see one of the stones on the north side of the circle in the foreground. If you follow an imaginary line from the left-hand side of Corndon Hill, straight down, you can see the central stone. Just behind this to the left are two stones on the south side of the circle.
It’s tricky to get a good photo of all the stones at Hemford because they’re hidden in the long grass.
20th July 2002: This is William plodding towards Hemford Circle (the circle is hidden in the tall grass at the top of the field). We were all a bit wet by this stage because none of us had proper boots on.
If you’re not a Welsh speaker it can be a bit tricky pronouncing some of the place names in this area, so at the risk of offending the purists, I thought I’d have a go at giving an indication of how the names are supposed to sound:
Ysbyty Cynfyn: This is something very close to ‘us-but-ee kunvin’.
Ponterwyd: This is approximately ‘pont-er-wid’.
Pontarfynach: This village is called Devil’s Bridge in English, but it’s real name is pronounced ‘pont-ar-vun-ach’. The ‘ch’ at the end of the name has no equivalent pronunciation in English, but it’s similar to the sound at the end of the Scottish word ‘loch’. It’s not pronounced like the ‘ch’ in the word ‘chicken’!
Ystumtuen: This is pronounced ‘us-tim-tee-en’.
Dolgamfa: This is pronounced ‘doll-gam-va’.
If you visit Ysbytty Cynfyn, you’ll probably approach from the direction of the A4120, the road between Ponterwyd and Pontarfynach (Devil’s Bridge). This is the obvious way to get there, but if you’ve got some time on your hands, and you’re happy walking a few miles, try approaching from the west. This route gives you a real sense of pilgrimage, taking you past Dolgamfa and across the Rheidol gorge before reaching Ysbytty Cynfyn. The footpath is very well sign-posted (as Ceredigion footpaths go) but a map would be useful.
Starting from the village of Ystumtuen, follow the footpath north-east, past some old mine shafts and a small disused mining reservoir. The path continues through a distinctive saddle shape in the hillside. From the top you can see the bell tower of the church at Ysbytty Cynfyn. As well as being good geographical feature for navigating on foot the pass may have had symbolic significance to the people who built Ysbytty Cynfyn and Dolgamfa.
From here you head down-hill before reaching Dolgamfa, which sits on a small plateau about half way down the hill. There are good views across the Rheidol valley from here. Between Dolgamfa and Ysbytty Cynfyn is the river gorge, which is hidden from view by the ancient oak forest.
Heading downhill from Dolgamfa you pass a farmstead and enter the forest (the trickiest terrain on the walk). At the bottom of the slope is the gorge (very impressive in the winter) and the crossing point, Parson’s Bridge. The bridge (originally not much more than a log) is traditionally associated with a priest who worked between Ystumtuen and Ysbytty Cynfyn. I suspect that this crossing point dates back a lot further than this, possibly connecting the two megalithic sites when they were in use.
From Parson’s Bridge it’s an uphill climb to get out of the gorge, and the forest. The path goes up a small hill before dropping down to Ysbytty Cynfyn itself.
Taken on 16th June 2002 at the end of an amazing walk from the village of Ystumtuen, over the Rheidol gorge to Ysbytty Cynfyn.
Taken on 23rd July 2002. I thought this photo was worth posting because it’s a bit different. It’s taken from underneath the dolmen, looking (very approximately) west.
Taken on 23rd July 2002. It was my son William’s first visit, and he loved it. He immediately decided that the dolmen was a house, and pretended to make us both a cup of tea.