Two enclosures, walls, clearance cairns and huts on gentle stony slopes which face SW. The enclosures whcih are marked on the OS 1:10 000 scale map are built of roughly piled stones, 1.2m with and up to 0.4m high. Many natural features are incorporated into the walls which are fragmentary and in places difficult to trace. Set into these walls are huts and cairns or stone piles. The most prominent feature is a large roughly oval mound of stones measuring approximately 5m x 8m which is overgrown with reeds. The function of this feature is not obvious but two level areas separated by a bank of stones and a possible 2m wide section of wall were discerned so perhaps this spread of stones conceals the remains of two hut circles. Several metres to the NW is a level area and a semi circle of loosely piled stone, probably the remains of hut. The structure has a diameter of approximately 5.5m and the wall which is 1m 1.5m wide is formed of loosely scattered stone, again probably the remains of a hut The structure has a diameter of approximately 4m and the walls are generally less than 1m wide though a scatter of stone down the slope may once have been part of the wall. Set into the downslope wall of the northerly enclosure are three are three stone piles each with a diameter of approximately 3m which may be clearance cairns though the scattered nature of the stones in the northernmost pile suggest that it could also be interpreted as a hut. Attached to the lower side of the southerly enclosure are traces of another rectangular enclosure most of which appears to be buried in peat. Scattered around the enclosures are the remains of at least three huts. All are simple levelled areas with insubstantial walls no more than 0.5m high and less than 1m wide. Two are oval shaped with one 3m long and the other ca 3.5m long. The circular example has walls of natural boulders and loose overgrown stones and a diameter of ca 5m. The slopes surrounding the enclosure are covered with stone and there are numerous piles of boulders, most of which appear to be natural, though a detailed survey may refute this conclusion. There are traces of a lynchet or revetment on the downslope walls of the enclosure and it is possible that the site may have originally extended southwards, but is now covered by peat. 400m above O.D.
John Latham 17 July 2012
Resources
DownloadTypeSourceDescription
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.documentGeneral Digital Donations CollectionFinal report entitled Cwm Ffrydlas and Mynydd Du: A Study of Prehistoric Upland Field Systems in Gwynedd. BA Archaeology, Archaeology Dissertaion HDA 3075 0 produced by Sam Birchall, 28th April 2015.