Old Settlement
The ridge contains the evidence of many remains of old settlement. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales reports that a survey in 1993-4 added around 600 sites to the 2 already recorded on the Sites and Monuments Record. According to this record, the earliest evidence of activity was 4 cairns, probably dating back to the Bronze Age, and there was a round hut with adjoining sub-rectangular structures suggesting late prehistoric settlement. Many remains indicated mediaeval occupation, but these were not on the exposed top of the ridge, but generally between the 250m and 350m contours, where the soil was better and there was more shelter.
Most of the later sites have agricultural connections, and in some places traces of earlier field patterns survive. The most substantial remains today are derelict farmhouses, and even two two derelict chapels.
It is possible that some of the buildings on the edges of the marginal land may be hafotai (summer dwellings) rather than permanent dwellings.
Read more about this topic: Cefn Cyfarwydd
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