Running east for 261m up the slope from the settlement of Gilrhyd (NPRN: 405542) beside the River Teifi, are the faint traces of a hollow way 4m wide by 0.2m deep. The place name Gilrhyd and a raised rib of rock in the river suggests that there may originally have been a ford across the river here.

It would appear that the hollow way no longer existed in the mid-18th century as it is slighted by a pre 1766 enclosure wall depicted on the 1766 survey of the Crosswood (Trawsgoed) Estate, associated with the Vaughan family (later Earls of Lisburne) (National Library Wales (NLW): CW IV.9 volume II, map 4). The hollow way first ran along the north side of this enclosure wall, then crossing to its south side. Its alignment at the point which it vanishes, on ground which has been cultivated and `improved', would link with a series of braded hollow ways (NPRN: 405559) which commence some 430m to the north east beyond the gate in the ffridd wall (NPRN: 405565). The 1891 six-inch Ordnance Survey map suggests that this was a significant route across the hills, linking up with the `Monks' Trod' near the south end of Llyn Egnant. Although it cannot be followed across the moorland as a continuous archaeological feature this could well have been an alternative course of the `Monks' Trod', and also the best route to the Teifi Lakes. It seems likely that an approach to the late medieval farmsteads of Penlandoppa (NPRN: 405537), Penlanscubor (NPRN: 405538) and Troed y Rhiw Ucha (NPRN: 405539) would have branched off from this hollow way.

A detailed survey of this feature was undertaken by RCAHMW in 2006 as part of a wider study of the Troed y Rhiw area (NPRN: 405578).

Louise Barker, RCAHMW & Andrew Fleming, June 2007.

Sources:
Fleming, A. & Barker, L. 2008 Monks and Local Communities: The Late-medieval Landscape of Troed y Rhiw, Caron Uwch Clawdd, Ceredigion. Medieval Archaeology 52, 261-290