Henllan stone circle or Carn Caca.

 

Henllan Stone Circle

The presence of some very significant archaeological sites on Carn Caca above Melincwrt, has been known to me for many years but have never quite plucked up the courage to push my aging Scottish terrier up the steep incline to witness the delights on our doorstep. My abiding fear actually, by combining a walk with a recce that it could prove disastrous on what is working farm land. To cut a long story short , today , the 20^th of September, doubts were pushed aside and out of my comfort zone, went in search of the stone circles, which are shown on the OS map as Carn Caca cairns and stone circle. 

D.Rhys Philips in his “History of the Vale of Neath”, describes it thus ( paraphrased) :-

The Henllan circle lies in a commanding position on Henllan farm in ( Glyn Gwilym ?) Melin y Cwrt. It is a small circle about 30’ in diameter and an eloquent connection between the pre and post Roman Period. It pre dates the Brythonic period and could well have been used by the Celtic saints Cadoc and Illtyd.

Carn Caca also includes a Roman marching camp and a hillfort. “Caca”, itself is interesting and probably refers to the leachate of iron ore in the area which would resemble excrement.

Did I find it? Well, yes and no. I came across one of the cairns which runs alongside St Illtyd’s Walk , but was not sure if it was the cairn or stones deposited by a long melted glacier. Walking straight passed I had obviously missed the other two, after close inspection of the map on my return. However, my worst fears were realised when I saw a herd of huge Welsh Black steers being driven up the hill accompanied by dogs , two 4 x 4s and a lot of shouting. Beating the retreat off the hill I came under the bounding and watchful eye of one of the athletic dogs, who sniffed my terrier and then bounded off to the day job. In my defence, the Archaeological Trust did state that it was difficult to spot, i.e. the circle, not the dog.

Been to base camp,  summiting next time and will take the map

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Trefor.