Welsh Journals

The Stone-Rings on Craig Rhiwarth. Craig Rhiwarth is a hill that rises to 1,750 feet on the north side of the Tanat Valley at its foot lies the village of Llangynog at an altitude of 520 feet, O.D. The southern and eastern sides of the hill are almost precipitous and are broken by steep crags, especially toward the top. On the northern side two lateral valleys, Cwm Glan- hafon and Cwm Orog, approach one another from the east and west and form a well marked col, which joins Craig Rhiwarth to the main Berwyn range. The approach to the hill is more gentle on this side and the slopes are entirely grass-covered. The boundary between the parishes of Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant and Llangynog follows the col and strikes in a southerly direction across the summit of the hill, which is divided between the two parishes. The Inventory of Ancient Monuments of Wales and Mon- mouthshire (i. County of Montgomery, p. 125) says, Over the upper portion of the southern slope of Craig Rhiwarth hill are scattered a number-probably sixty-of hut circles, with a strong, carefully con- structed, protecting wall of large unhewn stones. At its eastern end the wall starts from rough precipitous ground needing no special defence. Its course is almost due east and west for a distance of over 1,500 feet when it terminates ineffectually on the hill-side. About midway along this wall is the entrance which is both in-and out- turned to an extent of nearly 10 feet. The hut-circles are in groups on the hill-side above the wall, and so far as could be ascertained their entrances faced the south-east. The internal diameter seemed to average 20 feet.. There is a small spring in the south-eastern part of the enclosure." In the early summer of 1933, Mr. Robert Richards had carried out some preliminary investigations on the hill. He was joined on August 21st by Mrs. E. M. Clifford, and Messrs J. M. de Navarro, T. C. Lethbridge, and R. U. Sayce. Investigations of the circles as well as of other sites in the neighbourhood were carried on for the next ten days, with the assistance, during the latter part of the time, of Mr. K. H. Jackson and Mr. Arthur Lane. Craig Rhiwaith is a traditional haunt of fairies and this may account for the difficulties and uncer- tainties that were experienced in interpreting the evidence that we obtained. The writer of this report has tried to set down what may