In the footsteps of our ancestors

The Trefil moors were once home to Bronze Age tribes and revolutionaries. Helen Morgan from Abergavenny Local History Society reports

Trefil once had two pubs, two chapels and mainly two families; Evans and Williams, and at 400m above sea level is one of the highest villages in Wales. As well as producing lime for industry, in recent years its quarry has been home to Dr Who and other sci-fi figures of fantasy.  From the quarry, the path from the A465 north across the moorlands to Dyffryn Crawnon passes cairns, where Bronze Age people were buried alongside a beaker of mead to help them on their way, and caves where revolutionaries hid out.  Trefil is also the top end of the railway that took lime to the furnaces in Ebbw Vale and Beaufort, and the Brynore tramroad that carried coal, iron and lime to the canal in Talybont on Usk

Near Nant Trefil are the remains of a Hafod – which typically has a circular cottage, a fold for livestock and a limekiln. Before the Industrial Revolution, people actually lived up here some of the time.  In winter, farming families would live in the Hendre, down the valley, but in summer, the girls would bring the herds up to graze the green pastures of Trefil Las and make cheese for the winter — safely away from the boys who would stay below working the fields.

Farther upstream, are more man-manipulated stones. But this is no hafod. One set consists of two concentric circles at different heights, known as the Duke’s Table. Lurid tales of lusty druids and bloody sacrifices involving hapless virgins are rife, but it was most likely designed as a picnic area for the Duke of Beaufort’s hunting parties. Nearby, large stones have been placed to create a tank from the spring — probably to cool drinks before lunch and for washing up afterwards – says Frank Olding, who will be leading a tour through the uplands on July 13th.

Next stop is a memorial to Aneurin Bevan from where the trail forks to the right, opening up a spectacular vista across lush forest towards Dyffryn Crawnon and Tor y Foel. Near one of the biggest burial cairns in Wales, and the Chartists’ Cave where the workers hid and plotted the 1839 uprising, lie the remains of a medieval gorse mill and a bowl-shaped limekiln.
To book Frank Olding’s six-mile walking tour, Upland Archaeology of Blaenau Gwent, call 07971 081647 or 07968 472812

Filed under: Local History
Saturday, July 12th, 2014 at 9:22 am