Out and about visiting ancient sites in and around the Rhondda Valley, we stopped on the way from Hirwaun to Treherbert to look around the Hendre’r Mynydd Iron Age settlement. It’s a bit more modern than the ones we’ve been visiting, probably less than 3000 years old. My travelling companion, archaeologist Dewi Bowen, described itContinue reading “The Liminal Place”
Tag Archives: Dewi Bowen
Rocking!
Carrying on with our search for ancient monuments, we came across this famous one on the hillside above Pontypridd. It’s The Rocking Stone, or Y Garreg Siglo in Welsh. This seems to be two massive stones laid one on top of the other, probably a glacial erratic placed by a glacier in the last IceContinue reading “Rocking!”
The Drinking Stone
The spectacular Maen Llia standing stone near the village of Ystradfellte at the junction of two valleys, possibly a marker stone on an ancient trackway. It’s a huge diamond shaped conglomerate slab, probably from the Bronze Age and local legend says that the stone drinks from the nearby stream on Midsummer morning. I drew ontoContinue reading “The Drinking Stone”
The Stoneless Ring
The final drawing from last Sunday’s trek around ancient ancestral sites took us up a mountain to the Pentre’r Bebyll ring cairn up above Pontarddulais. At 860 feet, the summit of Mynydd Pysgodlyn was really cold and I was already chilly from doing the two previous drawings at Bryn y Rhyd and Graig Fawr. ThisContinue reading “The Stoneless Ring”
The Maenhir on Bryn Y Rhyd
Another site of ancient significance, a large standing stone in isolated magnificence in a field, this is the Bryn-Y-Rhyd maenhir/menhir near the village of Llanedi in Carmarthenshire. Maenhir is Welsh for long stone and this is a pretty massive specimen, towering over Dewi and Melvyn. I drew with carbon and white conte crayon onto a pieceContinue reading “The Maenhir on Bryn Y Rhyd”
Ponies And A Monstrous Cat
Out again today exploring ancient neolithic monuments in South West Wales, quite near to home this time. Our first stop was a fair hike up Graig Fawr (Big Rock) mountain near Pentrebach (Little Village) not far from Pontarddulais near Garreg Llwyd (Grey Rocks) farm in the County of Swansea. We walked in the freezing weatherContinue reading “Ponies And A Monstrous Cat”
The Three Rs
The Three Rs – Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse; it’s what I do with paper all the time. If something doesn’t work out, no point in keeping it hanging around. And as I use really good quality paper, I’m not going to bin it. I did a massive drawing on Fabriano Accademica about a year ago (youContinue reading “The Three Rs”
Walnuts And Mud
My journey around ancient monuments last week ended is an unbelievably muddy field just outside the tiny village of Meinciau in Carmarthenshire. Some distance from the road, through a couple of fields is The Gwempa standing stone, a large menhir covered in elaborate patterns of lichen and scored heavily with lines near the bottom. TheContinue reading “Walnuts And Mud”
Arthur’s Table
Up a mountain (Mynydd Llangynderyn), over a ridge, through a bog to a pair of small sub-megalithic burial chambers next to each other under a rocky outcrop. Together the pair is known as Bwrdd Arthur (Arthur’s Table). This is the western burial chamber, called Gwal y Filiast (Kennel of the Greyhound Bitch), which is theContinue reading “Arthur’s Table”
Channelling Cezanne
Each ancient stone monument I visit on my travels across South Wales affects me in different ways and this is being reflected in my drawings. Here at the Neolithic ring cairn atop Mynydd Llangyndeyrn, Carmarthenshire, the angular stones contrasted sharply with the grassy hummocks surrounding them. I’m not interested in doing topographical drawings, I wantContinue reading “Channelling Cezanne”
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