Carn Fadryn
Carn Fadryn, enclosures
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Historic background
Carn Fadryn is a very conspicuous peak rising
at its summit to 371m above an enclosed plateau at around 350m.
Moel Caerau stands to the east at 200m; Garn Bach to the south-east
at 280m.
There is the possibility of early activity on the summit of Carn Fadryn,
represented by a cairn and cist burial on the plateau area and discovery
of a single Bronze Age palstave nearby. The most visible and dramatic
evidence of activity is, however, the phases of fortification which
have been applied to this mountain over several periods of the past.
The first phase incorporates the plateau between about 340m and 350m
OD, defined by a dry stone rampart, enclosing an area of around 5ha.
There are two entrances; one through the north wall of the enclosure,
the other in the south. Phase 2 represents an extension of the enclosed
area to the slopes on the north and a smaller extension to the south.
Well-defined tracks approach the entrances and it is very likely that
these are ancient and contemporary with the defences. Circular and
rectangular structures cluster among small paddocks against the scree
and rising rock wall on the west side of the plateau. These structures
are later than the first phase and may be later than the second. There
is a resemblance to the structures of the Romano-British phase at Tre’r
Ceiri. Both Carn Fadryn and Tre’r Ceiri had their oblique entranceways
re-lined in the second century AD, or thereabouts. There are hut circles
on the northern and southern slopes which may be contemporary with
the earlier phases of defence (PRN 1021). Only one definite hut circle
is recorded within the plateau enclosure, on the south side.
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The third phase of defence presents an enigma.
A trapezoidal enclosure 75m by 16m has been constructed on,
and along the ridge from the summit boss. The wall, where it
survives, is vertical and has indications of a double thickness
in places. The wall is drystone. Having crossed the Traeth
Mawr from Ardudwy into Eifionydd and on to Llyn, Gerald of
Wales, in 1188, saw a stone castle called Karnmadrun, recently
built and belonging to the sons of Owain Gwynedd. The dry-stone
summit citadel is a plausible candidate.
There are several more hut circles on the south eastern slopes of Garn
Bach (PRNs 4019, 416) and at Pen y Caerau (4027, 4028, 4030). There
is a platform house on the western slopes of Carn Fadryn in the area
of the enclosed fields.
In 1812, 230ha (568 acres) of Carn Fadryn and Garn Bach were enclosed
by Parliamentary enclosure. The area involved took in the entire summit
plateau of Carn Fadryn and the western half of the summit of Garn Bach.
The western and south-western slopes of both hills were enclosed at
the same time. The principal beneficiaries were Lord Newborough and
William Harvey.
Key historic landscape characteristic
•A large hillfort with two phases
of rampart construction in later prehistory
•A stone-walled summit citadel of possible 12th century
date and plausibly documented by Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188.
•A landscape of Parliamentary enclosure with small
rectilinear plots and a dispersed cluster of cottages on
the lower slopes
There is a chain of
igneous intrusions and high ground which run from north-west
to south-east from Carn Fadryn in the parish of Llaniestyn
to the sea at Llanbedrog. This character area describes the
Parliamentary Inclosure at Carn Fadryn and the contiguous
high ground of Moel Caerau and Garn Bach.
The three hills within the Carn Fadryn landscape
character area are rocky igneous intrusions. Carn Fadryn dominates
at 371m. The smaller hills are connected by low spurs. Carn
Fadryn is engulfed, across its summit plateau, with heath and
partly so at Garn Bach. Moel Caerau is rocky but grazed. Two
dramatically opposite themes are encountered here. One is that
of fortification in later prehistory, through two phases of
rampart construction with clear and ancient manufactured paths
of access, particularly on the south side. A potentially much
later fortification was established on the summit with plausible
arguments in favour of accepting the suggestion that the stone-walled
summit citadel is the documented Karnmadrun, the stone castle
seen by Gerald of Wales in 1188, recently built and, at that
time in the hands of the sons of Owain Gwynedd. The third theme
is that of Parliamentary enclosure. Despite enclosure, no development
took place on the summit of Carn Fadryn, much of which was
released as fuel ground, but the small rectilinear plots and
the dispersed cluster of cottages on the lower slopes contained
within the Inclosure boundary are indicative of that process
in the early nineteenth century.
There is a chain of igneous intrusions and high ground which run from
north-west to south-east from Carn Fadryn in the parish of Llaniestyn
to the sea at Llanbedrog. This character area describes the Parliamentary
Inclosures at Mynytho and Mynydd Tirycwmwd and the contiguous high ground
of Carn Saethon, Carneddol and Foel Fawr.
Carn Saethon and Carneddol are included within this character area, together
with Mynytho, as they continue the line of volcanic intrusions from Carn
Fadryn to Mynydd Tirycwmwd. Carn Saethon and Carneddol lie between Carn
Fadryn and Mynytho. Mynydd Tirycwmwd extends, as a promontory, into the
sea at Llanbedrog.
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