Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains

  • SO213257
Nearest town:
Crickhowell (7km SSE)
OS reference:
SO213257
OS sheet:
161
Latitude:
51° 55' 25.53 N
Longitude:
3° 8' 40.45 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by GLADMAN

Looking towards the Bronze Age cairn upon Pen-y-Gadair-Fawr from Pen Twyn Glas.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Feb 20, 2016
Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by GLADMAN

Looking approx north from Pen Allt-Mawr, the abundance of sites which populate the Black Mountains is obvious. Pen Twyn Glas’ call is less tangible, perhaps..... the suggestion ‘hanging in the wind’ of passing footsteps millennia ago along the foreground ridge? ‘Damn, where did that arrow head go?‘

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Sep 23, 2011
Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by thesweetcheat

Pen Twyn Glas, seen from Mynydd Llysiau. The rounded bulk of Pen Cerrig-calch rises directly behind, the summit of Pen Allt-mawr is obscured by rain on the right. Both of these latter peaks boast multiple bronze age cairns.

Image credit: A. Brookes (6.8.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 6, 2011
Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by thesweetcheat

The view SE from Pen Twyn Glas towards Pen y Fal (The Sugarloaf).

Image credit: A. Brookes (6.8.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Aug 6, 2011
Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by GLADMAN

Upon Tal Trwynau with Pen Allt-Mawr dominating above to right. Blorenge, with its great Bronze Age cairn, is centre skyline, the enigmatic Mynydd Pen-y-Fal [the ‘Sugar Loaf’] left of image. CPAT cites two cairns upon Sugar Loaf’s right hand ridge as the real deal. Funerary cairns everywhere, then.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 26, 2010
Image of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains by GLADMAN

Playing ‘spot the prehistoric monument’ upon Pen Twyn Glas..... nearest to hand is an excavated Bronze Age cairn upon the foreground ridge sweeping to the right. Mynydd Troed, with associated chambered cairn, dominates the image (centre skyline) with Mynydd Llangorse and its hillforts/standing stone to its left. Castell Dinas is extreme right, with the Ty Isaf chambered cairn upon the valley floor somewhat nearer the camera.

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 26, 2010

Articles

Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 24, 2010

Pen Twyn Glas marks the 2,115ft apex of Tal Trwynau, a long, grassy ridge dividing the Grwyne Fechan valley from Cwm Banw to the west. This is the ‘forgotten quarter’ of The Black Mountains, the scene dominated by the great Waun Fach/Pen-y-Gadair-Fawr ridge to the right and Pen Cerrig-calch/Pen Allt-Mawr, across Cwm Banw, to the left as the Mam Cymru and I ascend. The silence is all consuming, the sense of anticipation that of those who know what’s coming.... like a child upon Christmas Eve, so to speak.

Everything changes upon attaining the main ridge mid-way between Pen Allt-Mawr and Mynydd Llysiau, however. To be honest the summit itself is not exactly inspiring, being ‘adorned’ by one of the most pathetic walker’s cairns you’ll ever see and a fallen boundary stone that may well be old, but obviously not prehistoric. Then the view to the west and north-west materialises. Actually that’s not the right word, implying a gradual revealing, whereas the stunning vista actually hits the traveller with all the metaphoric force of a freight train. Not just inspiring, but awe inspiring. Can anything look so beautiful as the Rhiangoll looks today in this light? An open question, I guess.

We consider heading either left or right along the ridge.... but frankly this will do nicely today, thank you very much. Trees soften the flanks of Cwm Nant-y-fedw below, as if planted for this very reason – but actually colonising the only sheltered areas they can find in this brutal, hostile landscape. But what of prehistoric ‘stuff’? Well, there’s a somewhat denuded Bronze Age cairn a little way down the slope to the left of the cwm [see misc post], this leading the eye towards the great bulk of Mynydd Troed and, beyond, Mynydd Llangorse with its hillforts, The Brecon Beacons and, why, even Y Mynydd Du. The great South Walian Bronze Age cemetery, no less.... Diverting the gaze northwards, the reason for siting Castell Dinas ‘there’ was never more obvious.

But, magnificent scenery aside, why would a stone-hungry TMA-er want to expend all that energy – for it’s quite an ascent – for one, denuded cairn, albeit one that yielded artefacts upon investigation? The answer, I think, lies in a couple of further Coflein records which reveal that a Bronze Age arrowhead and flint (possibly Mesolithic) were found in the immediate vicinity [again see misc post]. Clearly men have been ‘passing by’ for millennia – whether on hunting expeditions or engaged in ritualistic rites I guess we’ll never know – and it’s this knowledge which, for me, adds some tangibility to the highly developed ‘sense of place’ we experience here, a feeling which I simply cannot put into words. It just feels ‘right’, you know?

Punters may march ‘eyes down’ along the main ridge – and quite a few do so, the muppets – but move a little to the west to the lip of the escarpment and I’ll swear you wouldn’t be at all surprised if a Bronze Age gentleman came up and sat down beside you. Come and ‘ave a chat, my friend. Swop me Triplepoint jacket for your quiver of arrows? Right on!

So, come to Pen Twyn Glas and travel in the footsteps of the ancestors. Literally......

Miscellaneous

Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Apr 24, 2010

1) PEN TWYN GLAS Bronze Age cairn – SO20102604

The mutilated cairn is located on a level area above the northwest facing slope. It is a mound roughly 10 metres across and 1.3 metres high, roughly circular in plan. It is built of portable stones measuring about 0.2 metres across. A shelter has been dug into the top of the cairn, forming a round hollow 3 metres across and 1.2 metres deep. A peculiar channel runs up the east side of the cairn and can be seen continuing along the bottom of the shelter. It is about 7 metres long and 0.5 metres wide. Where it runs up the side of the cairn it is 0.2 metres deep and full of exposed stone (the rest of the cairn, apart from the shelter, is covered with bilberry). The channel could be associated with the original design of the cairn, perhaps even a passage. A previous investigation of the cairn found a pigmy cup and burnt bones located within a primary cist.‘

2) PEN TWYN GLAS Arrowhead Find Location – SO2065025050: ‘Late Neolithic chisel arrowhead.‘

3) PEN TWYN GLAS Flint Find Location – SO2135025850: ‘Flint flake with broken or snapped end. Poss. Mesolithic’.

Sites within 20km of Pen Twyn Glas, Black Mountains

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