Historic Landscape Characterisation
The Rhondda


026 Mynydd Brith-weunydd and
Mynydd Troed-y-rhiw


HLCA 026 Mynydd Brith-weunydd and Mynydd Troed-y-rhiw
Upland landscape; prehistoric funerary landscape; early communications corridor; part of former medieval monastic grange; distinctive and possibly early boundaries; extensive industrial landscape.

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(Photo: GGAT HLCA026)

Mynydd Brith-weunydd showing spoil tips and golf course with Llwynypia in the background.
Historic background

The historic landscape area of Mynydd Brith-weunydd and Mynydd Troed-y-rhiw is an area of open-mountain associated with farms of the same name located within the adjacent HLCA 027 Brith-weunydd and Troed-y-rhiw to the south and east. Three Bronze Age (2300-800BC) funerary monuments: the remains of two cairns, one 10m in dia. the other 13.4m in dia, on the summit of Mynydd Brith-weunydd (Berth-weunydd); and a third, a poorly defined mound on Mynydd Troed-y-rhiw, are the earliest archaeological features surviving in the landscape area.

During the medieval period the area was held by the once extensive Cistercian Grange of Penrhys, later broken up into smaller holdings and leased from the early 14th century. Under the Cistercians, and their later tenants, the area was primarily used for sheep grazing; this use continued following the reformation and during the post-medieval period is well evidenced by the remains of numerous sheepfolds depicted on the 1st edition 6" OS map of 1884. The post-medieval farmsteads, from which the area was later farmed, Brith-weunydd, Llethr-ddu and Troed-y-rhiw, are situated on the lower slopes to the south within the adjacent HCLA.

From the end of the 19th century the area's minerals were exploited and the local pennant sandstone quarried for local house construction; the remains of numerous minor industrial features including coal levels, quarries, tramways/inclines and spoil tips, depicted on the 2nd edition (1900) and 1921 edition OS maps, all of which have left their mark on the character of the area.

Sources

For further information please contact the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust at this address. Link to the Countryside Council for Wales website at www.ccw.gov.uk or Cadw at www.cadw.wales.gov.uk