Garn Wen – Mynydd Bach

Early History – The First Human Inhabitants. – D. Geraint Lewis

Hafod Ithel is the name given to the highest point on Mynydd Bach, and a small column, a trig point, was erected by the Ordnance Survey in the 20th century to mark this fact. But 4,000 years earlier, a much larger monument was built high up on Mynydd Bach – the mound of stones known as ‘Garn Wen’. Here in the heart of the Mynydd one can see the Mynydd Mawr, the Elenid (Elenydd) highland above Tregaron, stretching to Soar y Mynydd and the drovers’ path to Abergwesyn. Yet, despite its altitude, Garn Wen cannot be seen from the lake nor from the road which runs across the Mynydd; it is a secret, solitary place in the middle of this remote moorland. The cairn is still big enough for us to marvel at today; but we know that, over thousands of years, many of the original stones have been used for building in the area and. others eroded and destroyed by the wind and the rain. Within the cairn, the spot where a special clay vessel was found can still be seen — a vessel more than a yard high where the remains of a cremated body were placed It is not known today who was buried here and we can only guess what kind of leader merited such an accumulation of stones and building work…….

Cist, Garn Wen – Mynydd Bach