The Lost Cottages - Y Stabl, above Rowen, Conwy Valley

Not exactly a lost cottage, but a ruined building in the same setting as many of these cottages. This little building up on the mountainside above Rowen (at Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SH 7367 7040) is something of a mystery. It sits not far above the two White Harts, Isaf and Uchaf, which are rumoured to be drovers' inns, but doesn't seem to be associated with them. Early maps (included at the end of this post) show no tracks leading from the inns to this building.

The road leading up to the building is a very straight, relatively new road. By new I mean, the road did not exist in its current form on the 1850 map, but does exist on the 1888-1913 map. The building is noted on the 1850s map, however, and the road at that time is a curving road that goes to the building and no further. On that map the building is marked as 'Barns.' The fact the road goes so deliberately to this building and nowhere else implies some importance, or at least some level of traffic beyond a farmer on foot or an occasional cart.

 

Discussion on a local Facebook page has established very few things about the place. The current straight road, which passes near the building but doesn't lead directly to it, is known by some as the Drum Road (Drum being the mountain it leads to) and to some as Ffordd Mynydd (Mountain Road, or, loosely, the road to the mountain.) The building is known as 'Y Stabl' (The Stable.) Varied suggestions were made as to what it might have been used for. A stable or barn, as the name suggests. A powder store for quarrying. A peat store, to keep the valuable fuel safe from theft. One local neighbour is sure it was a peat store, another is certain it's a stable for the White Hart Inn, which sits nearby.

None of these seem like very plausible suggestions, though, with the exception, perhaps, of the peat store idea. The building is not architecturally right for a powder store, and is far away from any marked quarries. It would seem an odd place to have a stable, well away from any other buildings or thoroughfares. Although it's close to the White Hart it's not nearly as close as it could be, and the road that leads to it doesn't come from the direction of the inn. Could it be a shepherd's hut? It seems unlikely simply because the building is so well built, with considerable investment in dressed stone and a very solid, lockable door. Also, there's no sign of fireplace or windows. The mystery of this building is that it just doesn't resemble nearby outbuildings around farmsteads, which are usually built with undressed stones, and it seems too expensively built to just be something raised by a local farmer.

The view of Y Stabl from the field behind. The back wall, end wall, and roof are all missing.

 

 

The front and corner of the building are built with large dressed stones, making the place look surprisingly substantial for such a small building in such an isolated spot.

From the front, the remains of the building look quite impressive, although the door to the right is now missing, along with the end wall. 

 

Inside one of the rooms, signs of mortar remain, along with a fallen joist. There are no signs of either windows or a connecting door from this room to the next. Neither is there a sign of a fireplace.

 

From behind, this is the main room into which an impressive wood door with iron fittings leads on the other side. Because of the tree growth and the state of the walls, it would be neither safe nor easy to investigate more inside.

This is the best view that can be got of the wall inside this room. Perhaps in winter it would be easier to see, once the tree has lost its leaves.

 

In the other room, there are signs of a door leading into it from outside, in the end of the front wall. Only a single doorpost remains, though.

 

 

 A fallen timber, along with other rubble.

 

 An old iron gate, rusting on the ground.

 

The door, surprisingly, is still in good condition despite the ruin of most of the rest of the building. Built of substantial planks, it boasts impressive iron fittings and a keyhole, too.

 

A second picture of the door, taken on rather a wetter day. 

 

The substantial sill stone is still in situ. 

 

This rather lovely keyhole, with the workings visible inside.

 

 

Another old piece of ironwork offering the opportunity to make the door even more secure with a padlock.

 

 

 Hefty iron nails in the door, crossed by a strut of iron.

The closest of the two White Hart buildings is in the trees to the right of the photo; quite a distance away to make this a convenient stable.

 

 The view from behind the building, looking towards Ffordd Mynydd and the mountains of Pen y Gaer and Pen y Gadair.

 

 

 

 The very straight Ffordd Mynydd, stretching down to the lane below. No trace can easily be seen of the earlier curved road, either on the ground or on aerial photographs.

 

The 1850 map, which shows the building marked as 'Barns' at middle left, and a curving road leading to it.

 

 The 1888-1913 map, now showing the straight road and no sign of the curving road, with the building marked just off the road, but with no name or designation applied. Image from Archiuk.

 

Foel Lwyd, a Quarry and a Plane Crash

Yesterday I grabbed the opportunity of a break in the almost constant rain to seek out a scrap of wreckage from Avro Anson Mk.21 VV955, which crashed in low cloud on Foel Lwyd on May 20th, 1959. It felt like a relatively unambitious walk on a day which had been filled with alternating fine and heavy downpours. 

I also discovered that Foel Lwyd is a popular name in these parts. This Foel Lwyd forms the end of the ridge of Tal y Fan, while another Foel Lwyd stands behind Pen y Castell on the other side of the pass of Bwlch y Ddeufaen, which separates the two identically named peaks. 

On the way up to find the piece of wreckage I also passed a small slate quarry; small, but surprisingly large considering no sign could be seen of it from the road. 

The land I crossed to reach quarry, plane wreckage, and the peak of Foel Lwyd is Right to Roam, but there's no footpath. Always respect the farmer's land, leave gates as you found them, don't drop litter, and take care not to damage fences or walls. Keep dogs on a lead no matter how well trained. Leave nothing and take nothing away that isn't yours.

A lightly used track runs up the hill directly past the quarry and plane wreckage but peters out before the peak of the mountain. I found the last bit heavy going through knee high springy heather and bilberries. There were still a few late bilberries to eat, sweetening the occasional fall into the heather. Really, Foel Lwyd is a peak to achieve for the sake of ticking off another mountain, rather than for the majesty of its existence.

The peak of Foel Lwyd is a small protrusion at the end of the ridge of Tal y Fan. From some angles it looks like part of the same mountain, but there is a distinct dip between the two peaks. 

A trailer lies abandoned in the field not far from the gate to the road. We used to ride on a trailer like this to help with the haying in the valley, hanging onto the metal as it bounced down the lane behind the tractor, then ride back on top of the load, high above the cars.

A mushroom grows in the lush grass, serene under the sun.

The slate tip was larger than I expected from the quarry outline on the Ordnance Survey map. The whole quarry area centres on Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SH 7258 7180.

The quarry sits in a clearly delineated enclosure between straight walls. The walls are in good order up here, and it's hard to tell whether the quarry or field walls are older. I'd guess the field walls (not the detour round the tip) came first, but could be completely wrong.

The quarry is clearly marked on the 1888-1913 map as an old working, and it looks as if it disturbs an earlier boundary. Map image from archiuk.com.

The slate tip is becoming lost under heather and grass, which seems to indicate a good deal of time passed since it was last active. In the distance you can see the rounded shape of Pen y Gaer, and the Conwy Valley beyond.

A little spread of thinner slates near the foot of the tip.

On top, the tip is almost indistinguishable from the natural land.

The remains of a small structure on top of the tip.

The entrance to the working is just visible behind the tip as a gully in the hillside.

Nature is overtaking the scar, but there's still slate debris on the surface.

Once you've navigated the little gully, a sizeable quarry working opens up.

More slate scree not yet overtaken by nature. 

We climbed out of the lower quarry working, using heather for handholds. 

Above the larger working is a smaller one which doesn't open up like the other. I saw a fox running off through the heather, a red flash against the purple flowers.

This higher working peters out into nothing. 

Looking out over the lower working, slate tip, and the valley beyond.

Near to the workings are the remains of a small building. I assume it was associated with the quarry since there are no other buildings nearer than this.

This building is in a very ruined condition, so it's hard to tell what it might have looked like originally. 

The ruined building with the hill rising behind it.

There are some nicely dressed stones in the ruin, so it's reasonable to assume it was a good looking structure. 

Following the light track a little further up the mountain brings you to a flat little shelf of land, a peaceful looking space on the mountainside. This is where the wreckage of Avro Anson Mk.21 VV955 is located, near to where the plane crashed in cloud in 1959, killing a crew of three. More details can be found at the Peak District Air Crashes site. The wreckage is located at Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SH 7237 7204.

This is all that remains, one of the plane's undercarriage oleos, with a couple of metal bars next to it. My uncle recalls exploring the wreck site in the years immediately after the crash, believing it to be a WWII crash, and finding many panels from the body of the craft. Neither he nor my mother remember hearing about the crash when it happened. 

A number of photos of this piece of wreckage follow, which need little comment. Visiting these places is always a sombre experience, somewhat like visiting a grave. I like to look deeply but not disturb anything permanently, placing anything I move back as I found it. 

 

***

Fat bilberries grow beside the wreckage, but they were at the peak of their taste a little earlier in the year.

The tiny bit of wreckage can just be seen in the centre of this photo, with the slopes of Drum rising beyond the bwlch between the mountains.

Finally on top of Foel Lwyd, after a struggle for the final few hundred yards of springy mountaintop plants. It feels something of an anti-climax, not as peaky as it looks from below, and bisected by dry stone walls. 

The views from the top are wonderful, if you can see over the walls. In the distance is Anglesey, as well as Puffin Island just in the far right of the photo.

Looking north, you can look out over Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan to the limestone hump of the Great Orme, with Llandudno lying low to the right. 

The path is much better on the other side of the wall. Luckily the wall has been built with a lot of protruding stones, so, with a little care, it can be climbed.

On the other side of the wall lies a well trodden path, and the peak of Tal y Fan rising as a rocky lump in the distance. From here, it really is a distinct mountain from Foel Lwyd.

Finally on the way down, near the stile by the high pass between Tal y Fan and Foel Lwyd.