Below the former Allt Goch Wood (Coed Troed y Rhiw) (NPRN: 405566) on the edge of the river plain of the Mwyro are the remains of a settlement. This lies in the corner of a previously cultivated field (now pasture), in which the ploughing episode appears to respect the settlement - a prominent plough furrow directly to the west of the settlement marks the ploughing edge. The 1st edition 6-inch Ordnance Survey map appears to show the remains of a settlement here, but it is not marked 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), nor does it appear on the 1843 tithe. Documentary evidence suggests that the site was occupied in the 17th century and that it was probably then called Cwm Du.

The settlement survives in a very disturbed and denuded state and comprises of a building set within an enclosure. The building, measures some 15m by 8m and appears to comprise of two units, a larger c.11m long unit with an entrance in its southern side with a smaller annexe attached to the eastern end. Traces of the enclosure survive in earthwork form along the eastern and southern edge of the building and there are the possible traces of an approach to the building running in from the east, most likely off of the trackway along the southern edge of the Allt Goch wood. Stone to the south of the building and enclosure, may well represent further settlement remains. Some 30m to the north east within the wood are the earthwork remains of a quarry (NPRN: 405575) cut into the hillside which may have provided building materials for the settlement.

A detailed survey of this settlement was carried out 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