yet more facinating stuff Chris, thanks. It's always humbling to look at the long-term picture. That we call "pre-history"! The bare hills on the postcard (with some riparian "tufts") - would that have been natural or human (timber and sheep)-induced?
Thanks Chris. The next bit of the story will explain this- basically Mynydd Penrhos, in the postcard, was oak forest up to about 1597 (it appears in several Norman lists of forests as Penrhos Forest or Penrhos Wood) when it was cleared by a local estate owner to make charcoal for an iron smelting venture (early capitalist cashing in natural resources...). It was then called Penrhos Common, gradually became occupied by squatters (the tyddynwyr) and at some time enclosed (ie stolen) by the same estate who then charged the tyddynwyr rent.
It looks very bare and rocky but the grazing at the time would still be mixed with a strong emphasis on cattle so there's diversity there, not visible in the photo but yes, a distinct lack of trees at this end of the mynydd.
Incidentally, Carwyn Graves points out in his excellent book Tir (in english) that Mynydd doesn't necessarily mean mountain as we think of one, as in tall, craggy, pointy but refers equally to the land use, as in "summer grazing for livestock". Mynydd Penrhos is well under 1000 feet and this end would be the summer grazing for the mixed livestock of a number of the tyddynwyr.
yet more facinating stuff Chris, thanks. It's always humbling to look at the long-term picture. That we call "pre-history"! The bare hills on the postcard (with some riparian "tufts") - would that have been natural or human (timber and sheep)-induced?
Thanks Chris. The next bit of the story will explain this- basically Mynydd Penrhos, in the postcard, was oak forest up to about 1597 (it appears in several Norman lists of forests as Penrhos Forest or Penrhos Wood) when it was cleared by a local estate owner to make charcoal for an iron smelting venture (early capitalist cashing in natural resources...). It was then called Penrhos Common, gradually became occupied by squatters (the tyddynwyr) and at some time enclosed (ie stolen) by the same estate who then charged the tyddynwyr rent.
It looks very bare and rocky but the grazing at the time would still be mixed with a strong emphasis on cattle so there's diversity there, not visible in the photo but yes, a distinct lack of trees at this end of the mynydd.
Incidentally, Carwyn Graves points out in his excellent book Tir (in english) that Mynydd doesn't necessarily mean mountain as we think of one, as in tall, craggy, pointy but refers equally to the land use, as in "summer grazing for livestock". Mynydd Penrhos is well under 1000 feet and this end would be the summer grazing for the mixed livestock of a number of the tyddynwyr.