Points of interest
CARREG Cennen Castle is one of the few remaining privately owned Castles in Wales.
The castle came to be privately owned due to a legal discrepancy when Gwilym Morris bought the farm from the Cawdor Estate in the early 1960s. The land that he bought included the land on which the castle stands; hence he had acquired the castle as part of the farm. On realisation of their mistake the Cawdor Estate tried to buy the castle back for £100, he of course refused.
The story of Carreg Cennen Castle is a long one, going back at least to the 13th Century. There is archaeological evidence, however, that the Romans and prehistoric peoples occupied the craggy hilltop centuries earlier (a cache of Roman coins and four prehistoric skeletons have been unearthed at the site). Although the Welsh Princes of Deheubarth built the first castle at Carreg Cennen, what remains today dates to King Edward I’s momentous period of castle building in Wales.
The Beacons Way is a 152km linear walk from the Holy Mountain, (Skirrid Mountain, near Abergavenny) across the Brecon Beacons National Park, finishing in Bethlehem, near Llandeilo, and offers some of the best views the National Park has to offer. It was devised by ex-park Society secretary John Sansom, in conjunction with Arwel Michael and Chris Barber.
The Afon Cennen rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain to the east of the summit of Tair Carn Uchaf and flows north to Blaencennen Farm, then westwards past Carreg Cennen Castle, continuing through the village of Trap where it exits the Brecon Beacons National Park. Near the hamlet of Derwydd it turns northwest for a mile then northeast to run through the village of Ffairfach to its confluence with the River Towy.
Pillow Mound were artificial warrens built to house rabbits, which were farmed for their fur and meat during the medieval and post-medieval period. A licence was required from the king, which gave the ‘Right of Free Warren’ and people who looked after pillow mounds were called warreners.
Pillow mounds are visible as long, low earthwork mounds, usually cigar-shaped and in groups. They had many entrances in and out so the rabbits could sit on the mound of earth, spot predators, and run for cover if necessary. It was the Normans who introduced the rabbit or coney to Britain.
The River Loughor marks the border between Carmarthenshire and Swansea. The river is sourced from an underground lake at the Black Mountain emerging at the surface from Llygad Llwchwr which translates from the Welsh as “eye of the Loughor”. It flows past Ammanford and Hendy in Carmarthenshire and Pontarddulais in Swansea.
The river divides Carmarthenshire from Swansea for much of its course and it separates Hendy from Pontarddulais at the point where the river becomes tidal.