![MOELGOLOMEN](webphotos/moelgolomen.jpg)
MOELGOLOMEN
GRID REFERENCE: SN 694875
AREA IN HECTARES: 76.2
Historic Background
The history of this small historic landscape area has
not been researched. It is likely that settlement in this valley is long
established. The earliest large-scale map of the area, the tithe map of
1845 (Llanbadarnfawr parish), shows a landscape of small farms and cottages
set in a field system of small, irregular enclosures. This map illustrates
the high density of settlement reached during this period, a density that
has since diminished. A small metal mine was worked here from 1850 for
several decades, but does not seem to have been particularly successful
(Bick 1988, 34).
![MOELGOLOMEN](webphotos/moelgolomen2.jpg)
Description and essential historic landscape
components
This is a small but nevertheless distinct and varied
historic character area. It is centred on the farm of Meolgolomen –
a mid-to-late 19th century vernacular Georgian house with stone outbuildings
and substantial modern agricultural buildings. A second farm has a modernised
house with fewer outbuildings. Several deserted and ruined farms and cottages
testify to the once more populous nature of this area. The field pattern
is one of small irregular enclosures, whose boundaries comprise earth
or earth and stone banks topped with hedges. Hedges are in fair condition
close to the farm, but are overgrown and neglected elsewhere. Wire fences
supplement all boundaries. Some hedgerows possess distinctive trees, and
these, together with small stands of deciduous woods and coniferous plantations,
lend a wooded appearance to the landscape. Farmland is of improved grazing
with rushy and peaty hollows, and rougher ground and bracken on some steep
slopes. Spoil tips and other remains at the eastern end of the area mark
the location of a small metal mine. Leats, presumably serving mines at
lower levels in neighbouring areas cross this landscape.
The recorded archaeology consists of the remains of metal
mines and other post-Medieval elements of the landscape. A time-depth
component is provided by two Bronze Age standing stones and by finds of
Bronze Age date.
It is difficult to define the exact boundary between
this area and those to the south and west, as they share many similar
characteristics, though overall they are different. There is no such problem
to the north and east, where unenclosed upland bounds this area.
![MOELGOLOMEN MAP](webphotos/moelgolomenmap.jpg)
Base map reproduced from the OS map with the permission
of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery
Office, © Crown Copyright 2001.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright
and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD272221 |