Site: Margam Mountain

Name:Margam Mountain (Mynydd Margam) CISP No:MARG1
Place:Margam Grid Ref:SS 8306 8878 (GB)   Map
Parish:Margam Stones:1
County:Glamorgan (Morgannwg) , Wales Saint(s):none
Site Type:landscape setting

Site Notes

Westwood/1879, 22: `I traversed the mountain in different directions for several hours and met with many interesting British earthworks, which require careful investigation. It [the stone] stood near a small tumulus or hillock called in Welsh `Crug Diwlith', or the Dewless, the little mound where the bards of Tir Jarrl were accustomed to meet on the morning of the 24th of June, and was, when I visited it, lying amongst the stones still remaining of this tumulus. From the observation which I made of the locality it seemed to me that the situation had been chosen with reference to the origin of the river Kenfig, as the rise of this little stream can be traced to a small morass close to the tumulus on which the stone was lying'.

Fox/Fox/1934, provide an extensive discussion of the area around the stone and the settlements found there.

Fox/1939, 36--37: `This stone stood on the top of Margam Mountain, an extensive outlier of the Glamorgan uplands overlooking the coastal flats but linked with the hinterland to the north by a narrow saddle of high land. A well defined trackway (British Trackway on O.S. maps) indicates the route to the north. The Bodvoc stone is set up beside this road at its highest point where it crosses the mountain at the source of the river Kenfig. A small portion of the plateau to the south and east appears to have been a centre of settlement in early times -- it contains the remains of three fortified enclosures, Y Bwlwarcau, Rhyd Blaen-y-cwm and Gaer Cwm Philip, which for reasons which have been given elsewhere are probably of post-Roman date. Ascending the trackway from Rhyd Blaen-y-Cwm up the left bank of the Kenfig, the Bodvoc stone dominates the skyline for the greater part of the way. Approached from any other direction it is hard to find, as it lies in a small hollow on the crest. It is clear that the site was chosen by settlers on the south, to whom the roadway to the north was of importance.

The stone stands 25 yards away from the eastern edge of the present track; it is in the middle of a small enclosure, which, unfortunately, was mutilated in the middle of the nineteenth century. Enough remains, I think, in the light of Fochriw, to show its original character. There are the remains of a low circular bank with indications of a ditch inside, measuring 33 feet in diameter, north to south. On the west side, facing the road, both bank and ditch have gone. The enclosed area has a rectangular appearance, and measures some 8 ft. square; the stone, unlike Fochriw, however, is set up in the middle of the `area'. It is important to notice that the inscription, like that on Maen Madoc, is on the south face, the face that is visible from the uphill approach from the presumed settlement area'.

References

Stones