Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

: ''Gap/Pass of the Two Stones'') is a mountain pass in

Conwy county borough Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, ...

north Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, traversable only on foot or horseback, following the former

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

from

Caerhun Caerhun ( cy, Caerhûn) is a scattered rural community, and former civil parish, on the west bank of the River Conwy. It lies to the south of Henryd and the north of Dolgarrog, in Conwy County Borough, Wales, and includes several small villages ...

(Canovium) to

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

(Segontium). The route may be followed by road to

Rowen Rowen is a village on the western slopes of the Conwy valley in the parish of Caerhun and the former County of Caernarfonshire in Wales. It lies off the B5106 road, between Tal y Bont and the Groes Inn. ''Buildings of Gwynedd'' 2009 refers ...

or to

Llanbedr-y-Cennin Llanbedr-y-Cennin is a small village in Conwy county borough, Wales, in the community of Caerhun. It lies in the foothills on the western side of the Conwy valley, in Wales. The river Conwy runs through the valley, running into the sea to the no ...

and from either, the way, through a mountain gate, is a clearly marked green path to

Abergwyngregyn Abergwyngregyn () is a village and community of historical note in Gwynedd, a county and principal area in Wales. Under its historic name of Aber Garth Celyn it was the seat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. It lies in the historic county of Caernarfo ...

. The route lies between the peaks of Tal y Fan and

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

, in the

Carneddau The (lit. 'the cairns'; is a Welsh plural form, and is sometimes anglicised to ''Carnedds'') are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground (over or high) in Wales and England (although l ...

range in north

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

. The distance from Rowen to Abergwyngregyn is about nine miles of mostly high mountain footpath. Near the Abergwyngregyn end, the route forms part of the

North Wales Path The North Wales Path ( cy, Llwybr y Gogledd) is a long-distance walk of some that runs close to the coast of northern Wales between Prestatyn in the east and Bangor in the west. Parts of it overlap with the Wales Coast Path. The path runs alo ...

History

The ''Two Stones'' are large pre-historic monoliths of unknown date, which mark the summit at about . The south-eastern stone measures 3m in height, the smaller north-western stone is 2m high. Also, near the mountain gate, on the south side of the track, is a

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

and a

cromlech A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh ''crom'', "bent"; ''llech'', "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an ...

called ''Maen-y-bardd'' (the bard's stone) nearer Rowen. The path was a drovers' road leading via the Lavan Sands to

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. On the mainland side, the route was part of the network of drovers' roads that reached all the major centres of population in Wales and England. Cattle, sheep and even geese were regularly driven that way on foot down the ages to 1850 or even later, quite often as far as London, which was the largest market in Britain. Several Roman milestones have been discovered on this route or in the area, including one giving the distance to Kanovium (sic). Near the Abergwyngregyn end of the green path is a green mound, the relic of a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle of

Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and d ...

. In the eighteenth century, when turnpike road construction was in vogue, the Caernarvonshire

Turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th b ...

was authorised by an Act of 1777 to reconstruct this ancient Roman road from

Tal-y-Cafn Tal-y-Cafn (Welsh meaning : ''"place opposite the ferry-boat"'') is a small settlement in Conwy county borough, north Wales, in the community of Eglwysbach. It lies in the Conwy valley close to the Roman settlement of Canovium at Caerhun, and ...

via Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen over the high pass to Abergwyngregyn but they failed to carry out the work.

References

* ''Snowdonia, National Park Guide'' Number 2, edited Edmund Vale, HMSO 1958/1960 (foot of page 61) {{Conwy Valley Abergwyngregyn Caerhun Llanfairfechan Footpaths in Conwy County Borough Mountain passes of Conwy County Borough Footpaths in Snowdonia Mountain passes of Snowdonia