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Twmbarlwm

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Twmbarlwm

Twmbarlwm also known as Twm Barlwm, Twyn Barlwm, or locally known as "The tump" in relation to the pimple like mound that lies on its summit, is a mountain situated 2km to the northeast of Risca in South Wales. It is (1,375ft/419m) high and is a well known sight throughout the region. It commands extensive views across what is now the M4 corridor, out over the Bristol Channel [1] and Newport and Cwmbran.

The top of the mountain features the remains of what is presumed to be an Iron Age hill fort near its summit, believed to have been built by the Silures, the Celtic tribe that inhabited the area before and during Roman times. This is the reason for the local people of Risca and Cwmcarn naming it "The tump". There was also thereafter possibly a Roman signal point and there is also a substantial Norman motte and bailey castle [2] incorporated into the eastern end of the fort, probably of early Norman construction.

The mountain itself is a well known local landmark visible on the skyline for many miles and is indeed seen as a symbol of Monmouthshire/Gwent. It is very popular for hillwalking and mountain biking and with tourists who go to Cwmcarn Forest Drive or walk the Gwent Ridgeway. It features heavily in local folk legends with tales of a giant buried here, and treasure, supposedly guarded by swarms of bees. Local legend says the druids supposedly regarded it as a sacred site and a place of judgement. The hill fort is known to locals as 'the pimple' or 'the nipple'.

It also is noted in the work of local writers like W H Davies and Arthur Machen. Machen described it in his autobiography Far Off Things (1922) : "As soon as I saw anything I saw Twyn Barlwm, that mystic tumulus, the memorial of peoples that dwelt in that region before the Celts left the Land of Summer." This description was 'borrowed' by Dylan Thomas for Llareggub Hill in Under Milk Wood.[1]

References

  1. ^ Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood, The Definitive Edition (Dent: 1995.) p 91.
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