Foel Drygarn is the closest hill to my house. At 365meter, it towers over the village like a guardian, so naturally it was the first hill I wanted to climb when I moved here!
From the approach at Croes Mihangel the hill stands majestic, detached from the ridge of the other Preseli peaks. Rising from the soggy moor like a rock being pushed out from below. Clothed in its dark winter heather, flowing like a dress from its broad shoulders above to the surrounding moorland below. It looks pretty, but almost intimidating. A narrow green grassy ribbon cascades down the length of the dress connecting the moor to the summit. This steep but well-trodden path is the one we chose for our assent, although a less strenuous path can be found by skirting the hem and ascending from the west.
When I have climbed hills in the past it has been common to find a pile of rocks (a cairn) at the summit. So, as I carefully made my way across the slippy pile of rocks to the trig point on Foel Drygarn I assumed this too was a modern Cairn, erected as a landmark, maybe even built by walkers themselves to mark their achievement. However, as I stood at the top, having caught my breath, having absorbed the majestic view and having found my house in the "Lego" village below I realised that on this summit there were in fact three massive cairns. "Yes, Foel Drygarn, the hill of the three cairns", answered my welsh speaking father, as if this was a connection I really should have made before!
Following further research at home I found that these cairns weren't made by modern walkers, although holes in the Cains are evidence that they have sadly been rearranged by them, but possibly by my Bronze Age ancestors. Today they are recorded in the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW), Coflein, as Bronze Age Burial mounds, piles of stone covering ashes or bones of those who have joined the afterlife. Indeed, they are sent to the underworld in style, with their treasured possessions buried alongside them. It also suggests that the inhabitants of the hillfort respected these cairns, removing no stones for their own building from their plentiful piles.
I can't find any evidence that these cairns have ever been fully excavated. In 1900 S. Baring Gould, R. Burnard and I.K Anderson published an article "Exploration of Moel Trigarn" in the Welsh archaeological and historical journal, Archaeologia Cambrensis. Here they mention "The late Mr. James Fenton spent some days in digging into one, but he abandoned the work before reaching the centre on account of the expense occurred".
Baring Gould also says that he would like to explore the cairns further but again it would be a long and expensive process. Instead, Baring Gould concentrate on dating the hill fort. which is built around them. He does however say that the cairns could be older than the hill fort and may cover interments. However, the article also suggests other possible reasons for the cairns including piles of missiles to hurl at the enemy, platforms for signal-fires or a store of stones for the repairing of walls.
In his book, More Mysterious Wales, Chris Barber alleges that the cairns are known as Môn, Maelan and Madog. and are named after the three Welsh kings that are buried underneath them!
This brings me onto the subject of the Hill Fort. The above article by Baring Gould published the finding of the 1900 explorations. He felt Foel Drygarn to be a fortified post, due to its isolated and elevated position. He also observed that it was within signalling distance of the fort on Cairn Ingli, Newport, which is then in sight of Cairn Fawr, Fishgard, which is in turn in sight of Saint David’s head. All four of these stonewall camps were of the same period. Gould cannot however decide whether these forts were built by natives to defend against invasion, or by people who had landed on the coast and had attained a footing.
The article describes the ramparts being formed by digging out the ditches and using the removed soil and rock to construct a wall, incorporating any stones too large to remove into it. The ramparts form three separate enclosures on top of the hill.
The ground within the enclosures is covered with circular depressions “formed by digging away the soil on the slope and casting forth the earth to the lower side to form a level platform, presumably to serve as a basis on which to erect a habitation of some perishable material, such as wattle”. Baring Gould estimates that there is about one hundred of these inhabitation platforms, though more recently the number is thought to be 270, although not all platforms would have been inhabited at the same time.
It is a small portion of these hut sites that Gould and his team excavated. They could find no evidence of a wall below the turfs surface, and therefore concluded “These habitations were evidently made of perishable material, such as wood, wattle or skins”. The floor of these circles was covered in charcoal, evidence of inhabitation.
Below the charcoal level multiple items were found. These included a Spindle-whorl of
sandstone, a stone lamp, a stone armlet, glass beads and jet rings, a slate disk showing drilling marks, and also an iron object, assumed to be bridle-bit. Goud concluded that “Any examination of the objects found at Trigarn is convincing that this fortress, like that of Saint David’s head, was occupied during the iron age”
However, any evidence of the Hill fort had been wasted on me during my first trip to Foel Drygarn, as I was too absorbed by the fantastic 360 views. So off I went for another walk, this time with the intention of exploring the summit in more detail.
This time I climbed up the west face of the hill. From here it is easy to see the ramparts and ditches and I was able to enter the hill fort through a long wide funnel that cut through the ramparts, through what is perceived as the west entrance. On my right the steep south face with its rocky outcrops forms the south boundary of the fort. It was through these geological features I navigated my way to the summit on my first visit. With no manmade structure on this side, it was easy to miss evidence of the hill fort (well that’s my excuse anyhow!)
Once within the hill fort, I started to look for evidence of the hut circles. Once I had trained my eyes to find one the others magically appeared. Tessellating like ancient chicken pox scares on the neck and head of the hill
As I stood in one of these circles, I tried to imagine the life of my ancestor and their family, who’s home I was visiting. What work had kept them busy this morning? What had they eaten for lunch? As they set out for their afternoon would they have specific jobs for each gender? What games would the children play? How long would they expect to live for? After the sun had set would they retire to their beds of enjoy time as a family or community?
As my dog came to sit by myside I wondered if they too kept pets, or was this a luxury item, did their domesticated animal have to serve a purpose, earn their keep as such.
However, our lives differed from each other, one thing I’m sure they would have enjoyed as much as me, was the fantastic views which can be absorbed for the summit of this ancient hill.
