Waun Mawn and the Banc Llwydlos Tribe

The "other" standing stone at Waun Mawn -- it has nothing to do with the 

proposed "giant stone circle"

A map from the Dyfed Archaeology Report showing the locations of just 14 of the multiple prehistoric features on Banc Llwydlos and the adjacent moorland

Now here is a proposition:  it is premature, and even irresponsible, for archaeologists to talk about bluestone quarries, giant stone circles and "proto-Stonehenge in the Tafarn-y-bwlch area without first understanding the Neolithic tribe that occupied this area -- its size, its technical abilities, and its cultural associations. 

While MPP and his merry gang have been getting all excited over Waun Mawn, its fantastical "giant stone circle" and its fanciful links with Stoneghenge, I have been quietly assembling information about the extent of settlement in the neighbourhood, and the characteristics of the prehistoric remains littering the landscape.  

These are just a few of my posts on the scheduled and unscheduled features on Banc Llwydlos:

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/lake-brynberian-further-thoughts.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/devensian-till-on-brynberian-moor.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/banc-llwydlos-passage-grave.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/gallery-graves-or-passage-graves.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/more-banc-llwydlos-records.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/banc-llwydlos-cromlech-3.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/pensarn-what-will-diggers-find.html


This is the key report which gives the regional context:

www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/projects/schedulepembroke2011.pdf

In a number of visits culminating in a more detailed study in 2011, Dyfed Archaology team members investigated Banc Llwydlos, centred on SN09003323 – an area of c.6 square kilometres.  Sixteen sites were investigated, most of them having been previously identified by P. Drewett.  These are just some of the interesting features:

PRN 1565  TYPE UNENCLOSED SETTLEMENT   PERIOD Bronze Age?
NGR SN09303311    CONDITION Damaged   STATUS SAM-PE370   FORM Earthwork
Scheduled. FM & RR June 2009
A stone banked oval enclosure containing several possible huts with linking walls. Noted by CRM during air survey. TAJ 21:2:1990.  Nearby remains of a rectangular hut.  See below.

PRN 1579 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE ENCLOSURE GROUP PERIOD Medieval/Post Medieval? NGR SN09073339   CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY Circular enclosure and associated rectangular hut.

PRN 100699 TYPE HUT CIRCLE? NGR SN08703299   CONDITION Unknown
Scheduling Enhancement Project 2011: Prehistoric Fieldwork– Pembrokeshire Additional Sites
NAME  BANC LLWYDLOS    PERIOD Unknown
STATUS FORM Unknown   SUMMARY A feature identified as a 'circular stone hut’ by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.

PRN 100700  NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE CHAMBERED TOMB PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN0875133233   CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY A sub-rectangular shaped arrangement of stones set on edge and protruding through a similarly shaped low earthen mound. Possible the remains of a former prehistoric 'passage grave' or 'chambered tomb', it is situated to the east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.

Plan of the Banc Llywdlos "passage grave" given the number 100700.

PRN 100701  NAME BANC LLWYDLOS   TYPE STANDING STONE   PERIOD Prehistoric   NGR SN087763323   CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Stone slab
SUMMARY A possible standing stone recorded by P Drewett in 1984.

PRN 100702   NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE ENCLOSURE PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN08813321   CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Stone built structure
SUMMARY  A small sub-circular enclosure situated east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 260m above sea level, defined by a number of very large stone blocks, some of which are set within an earthen bank. (This looks suspiciously like a ruined cromlech --

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2017/04/banc-llwydlos-cromlech-3.html

PRN 100703  NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE STANDING STONE PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN08723322   CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Stone slab
FM & HW.   SUMMARY A possible 'megalith' recorded by P Drewett in 1984. It is situated to the south of the possible 'passage grave' PRN 100700.

PRN 100704   NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE PERIOD Prehistoric? NGR SN08733323  CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY A possible small circular enclosure visible as a low earthwork.

PRN 100705 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE SHEEP FOLD PERIOD Medieval NGR SN09513302 CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Stone structure
SUMMARY A possible sheepfold situated on a northwest facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 250m above sea level, lying to the east of a stream.

Feature No 100705.

PRN 100706   NAME CARNAU LLADRON   TYPE CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE   PERIOD Prehistoric? NGR SN10153343  CONDITION Damaged   STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY A nearly circular enclosure visible as a curving line of stones protruding through the turf. It is situated on a gentle north facing slope of Carnau Lladron at 200m above sea level.
LONG DESCRIPTION A nearly circular enclosure visible as a curving line of stones protruding through the turf. It is situated on a gentle north facing slope of Carnau Lladron at 200m above sea level. This possible enclosure has an approximate diameter of 13.6m. There is no evidence of an entrance. Within this enclosure there appears to be at least one small circular 'hut' (c.4.1m in diameter) situated towards the southern side of the enclosure. Outside of the enclosure on the west side is another small circular 'hut' (c.4.7m in diameter). As with the enclosure the huts are visible as circles of stones protruding through the turf. Not identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.
FM & HW April 2011

PRN 100707  NAME RHOS Y BRYN   PERIOD Prehistoric?  TYPE CAIRN  NGR SN10133398 CONDITION Unknown  STATUS FORM Unknown   SUMMARY A 'cairn' identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.
LONG DESCRIPTION A 'cairn' (site no 115) identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.No more information is listed in Drewett's 1984 report. Not located during fieldwork in 2011. The grid reference has been estimated from the sketch map contained within the report. FM & HW April 2011

PRN 100708 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS PERIOD Prehistoric? TYPE HUT CIRCLE
NGR SN10293297 CONDITION Unknown STATUS FORM Unknown SUMMARY A 'circular stone hut' identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.

PRN 100709  NAME  CARNAU LLADRON    PERIOD Unknown
TYPE ENCLOSURE   NGR SN10593382   CONDITION Unknown
Scheduling Enhancement Project 2011: Prehistoric Fieldwork– Pembrokeshire Additional Sites
STATUS FORM Unknown   SUMMARY An ‘enclosure’ identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.
LONG DESCRIPTION An ‘enclosure’ (site no 114) identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984. No more information is listed in Drewett’s 1984 report. Not located during fieldwork in 2011. The grid reference has been estimated from the sketch map contained within the report. FM & HW April 2011

PRN 100710  NAME CARNAU LLADRON   PERIOD Unknown  TYPE ENCLOSURE 

NGR SN09843364   CONDITION Unknown  STATUS FORM Unknown
SUMMARY An ‘enclosure’ identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984.
LONG DESCRIPTION An ‘enclosure’ (site no 116) identified by P Drewett during field survey in 1984. No more information is listed in Drewett’s 1984 report. Not located during fieldwork in 2011. The grid reference has been estimated from the sketch map contained within the report. FM & HW April 2011

PRN 9944  CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE NEAR CARN GOEDOG

Larger enclosures visited as part of this project included earthworks as well as drystone built features. One notable example is the well-preserved circular enclosure (PRN 9944) situated on the gentle north facing slopes of Carn Goedog. This enclosure, lying within a complex of fields and features (PRN 8403), consists of a circular enclosure, c.35m in diameter, defined by an earth and stone bank c.4.0m wide and 0.6m high that forms a complete circle with no apparent entrance. In the SE quadrant of the interior is a spread of stone that appears to have some form - perhaps circular - possibly an indication of a former hut circle? Unfortunately the reed growth within the enclosure obscures any other evidence of internal features. This earthwork does not have an obvious settlement function and there are no other similar examples recorded in Pembrokeshire but neither does it fall into any known category of prehistoric funerary or ritual monument.  Recorded in Dyfed Archaeology Scheduling Enhancement Project 2010.

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2015/05/that-aint-no-pingo.html

BEDD YR AFANC - probable passage grave.  Grid ref SN107346.

Use search box for relevant posts.

Bedd yr Afanc, one of the few features in the area to have been investigated.

NOT PREVIOUSLY RECORDED.   Collapsed cromlech?  LOCATION - BANC LLWYDLOS.  PERIOD: Neolithic?  Grid reference: SN 096333. A clear circular arrangement of stones, c 6 m across. There are 23 small stones around a slight hollow, with two "stone clusters" on the southern edge. On the west side of the hollow there are two much bigger stones, one that appears to be a leaning support stone, c 70 cm high, and a fallen capstone which has the dimensions 1.3m long x 70cm wide x 30cm deep. 

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2020/09/more-prehistoric-features-on-banc.html

PASSAGE / GALLERY GRAVES.    Two passage graves (?) recorded by Emyr Jones and friends on social media.  Grid references SN 095338 and SN 087332. One of the features is near a prominent hawthorn tree on the moor, and the other is not far from the edge of a recently burnt area.

Banc Llwydlos passage grave SN087332 (possibly the same feature as No 100700)

Penanty-isaf passage grave 

Penanty-isaf passage grave

The relevant post is this one:

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-great-passage-grave-hunt.html

-----------------------------------------

Then we have the cluster of features on and near Waun Mawn, including at least five prominent standing stones, hut circles and ring cairns, the Waun Maes "sheepfold" and associated buildings,  stone walls, at least one ruined cromlech (?), a walled enclosure and standing stones at Carnedd Meibion Owen, and the Foel Eryr summit burial cairn.  These features have all been described on this blog -- not all of the same age, maybe, but certainly worthy of investigation.  See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345177590_Waun_Mawn_and_the_search_for_Proto-_Stonehenge

Features associated with the Waun Maes "sheepfold" -- prehistoric, or not?  Map by Paul Sambrook.

Part of the ruined "sheepfold" wall.

It's intriguing that the most obvious feature at Waun Maes -- the big "sheepfold" -- does not seem to have been given a catalogue number by the Dyfed Archaeology team.  This may be because it was deemed to have no archaeological significance, and to be a "modern" feature.  I disagree with this -- it looks very old to me, and does not seem to fit the requirement of being capable of containing a flock of sheep or other animals.  But it is listed by Coflein:

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/402804/details/disused-sheepfold-waun-maes-south-east-of-gellifawr
Anyway, it deserves proper archaeological investigation.........

Remains of a "long hut"at Foel Fach

Pair of standing stones, Waun Mawn

Waun Mawn -- ruined cromlech?

Waun Mawn -- traces of a hut circle?

See also:


PRN 9947 NAME WAUN MAWN   TYPE ENCLOSURE PERIOD Unknown

NGR SN081338   CONDITION Unknown   STATUS FORM Earthwork

PRN 9947   NAME WAUN MAWN   TYPE ENCLOSURE   PERIOD Unknown
NGR SN081338   CONDITION Unknown   STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY Possible enclosure located on a gentle west facing slope of Waun Mawn at 290m above sea level.
LONG DESCRIPTION Not visited in 2011 but it appears to be in the same location as the small enclosure, site No 122, recorded by P Drewett in 1984. FM May 2011
Information from D Maynard. Enclosure overlain ? by long house ? 9946 Earthwork enclosure of unknown significance. RPS August 2001

PRN 100698 NAME WAUN MAES   PERIOD Prehistoric?   TYPE CAIRN    NGR SN0724733056 CONDITION Damaged  STATUS FORM Earthwork   SUMMARY An irregular shaped earthwork, possibly a prehistoric burial cairn, situated on a gentle NE facing slope of Waun Maes at 330m above sea level.
LONG DESCRIPTION An irregular shaped earthwork, possibly a prehistoric burial cairn, situated on a gentle NE facing slope of Waun Maes at 330m above sea level. The earthwork is visible as a low earthen mound with large stones protruding through the turf. It measures approximately 11.4m N-S and 6.1m E- W and a maximum height of 0.4m. It has the appearance of an oval mound that has spread down slope to the NE. There appears to be a remnant of a stone kerb around the southern edge of the mound. This site was first recorded by P Drewett in 1984 as a ‘burial cairn’ (site no 103).

FM & HW April 2011

PRN 100699  NAME BANC LLWYDLOS  PERIOD Unknown   STATUS FORM Unknown

SUMMARY A feature identified as a 'circular stone hut’ by P Drewett during field
survey in 1984.
LONG DESCRIPTION A feature identified as a ‘circular stone hut' (site no 105) by P Drewett during field survey in 1984. There is no drawing of the feature in the report. This site was not located during a site visit in 2011. FM & HW April 2011

--------------------------

And this might be the most important find of all,   a "settlement" which might well have consisted of seven dwelling huts -- that might mean seven families.  That means a hamlet or a village.......

PRN 14373 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE UNENCLOSED SETTLEMENT PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN08973303   CONDITION Damaged   STATUS NPP     FORM Earthwork complex
SUMMARY     A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.
LONG DESCRIPTION      A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 270m above sea level. Indentified from aerial photography in 1990, 2009 saw the first site visit and this recorded a settlement complex of possible prehistoric date. The complex includes seven hut circles that are spread around a small square shaped enclosure. The square enclosure measures approximately 6.0m E-W by 5.0m and has an entrance on the north. The entrance leads out to a small 'yard' area that has an opening on the east into a larger rectangular 'yard' area measuring 18m E-W by c.6.0m. These yards appear to have been constructed on a platform to create a level area on the sloping ground, and much of the settlement has the appearance of being somewhat terraced into the hill slope. The hut circles vary from 5.5m to 3.5m in diameter. All the features are defined by low, spread, stony earthen banks that have an average height of 0.3m and an average width of 1.3m. All the banks are grass covered and many have large stones protruding through the turf.  

350m to the east is another hut circle group PRN 1565 that has been scheduled. FM & RR June 2009
A stone banked series of features including one or more possible huts with linking walls. Noted by CRM during air survey. TAJ 21:2:1990. 

Banc Llwydlos "village" -- PRN 14373.  It's suggested that there may have been a cluster of at least seven huts here, some on and some off this satellite image.

Plan of the "village"  -- added 7 Dec 2020.

Hugh Thomas, who knows the north slope of Preseli better than anybody else, said this on the blog in May 2015:

"The whole area is crammed with settlement traces and this concerns me over when it is scheduled to be dug and by whom.  I personally feel an independent effort should be made to establish what life was like here during the so called "Bluestone transport timescale" .  It is great this area has survived in such an unspoiled way, as if this site had been on the southern slope it would have been lost under modern farming long ago. The only other site I know of like this is Craig Talfynydd, there is a mysterious ring feature there too to the north. Also, burial chambers, standing stones etc in a very puzzling site low down next to the bog at Cors Tewgyll." 

Hugh makes the point that patterns of quite dense settlement traces are found in this area, as in others (he could have added the Carningli north slope and the Carn Alw area) and that nobody really knows which of the recorded features belong to which time slices -- Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age or "early medieval".  So I agree with Hugh -- there has been no concerted effort to understand what life was like in this area in the "Bluestone transport timescale" -- ie around 5,000 years ago.  

CONCLUSION

The settlement traces here are so varied -- incorporating hut circles, cromlechs, passage graves or gallery graves, ring cairns, stone alignments, standing stones, platforms, huts and sheepfolds -- that this suggests quite complex tribal occupation and activity.  Not very sophisticated maybe, but showing a wide variety of utilitarian and "ritual" features.  We may even have traces of a possible "tribal village",  and it's extraordinary that MPP and his fellow diggers have homed in on an insignificant alignment of one standing stone and three recumbent stones whilst completely ignoring the rich and varied context in which it is set.  The Stonehenge obsession is apparently so strong that the real cultural context of Waun Mawn has no value at all...........  and I wonder what the Dyfed Archaeological Trust feels about this "cultural appropriation" of one minute part of this fascinating cultural landscape, and the ignoring of everything else, arising out of what can only be described as bluestone mania?