Cwmsymlog is a short valley, sheltering a hamlet of the same name, in

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

, in the west of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Once an important mining area, but the mining slowly declined and finally came to an end in 1901. Now it is peaceful, open countryside with a few mining remains, scattered houses and farmland. It is also the name of a Site of Special Scientific Interest at that location.

Present

Nowadays Cwmsymlog lies hidden between the trees, surrounded by fields of sheep. The small settlement itself has a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and a few scattered houses. One of these has a standing stone in front of the house. The mine chimney dominates the landscape but everywhere around are traces of mining. Mining spoil piles are slowly being reclaimed by nature with gorse bushes and rare ferns. The mine chimney, nineteenth century, was restored in 2006 with extensive repairs to the top. Smaller stones were used for the top section to show the difference between the old construction and the restored part. The

Borth Borth ( cy, Y Borth) is a village and seaside resort in Ceredigion, Mid Wales, 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberystwyth on the Ceredigion Coast Path. The community includes the settlement of Ynyslas. The population was 1,399 in 2011. From be ...

to Devil's Bridge to

Pontrhydfendigaid Pontrhydfendigaid () is a village in Ceredigion, Wales. It lies on the western flank of the Cambrian Mountains, between Devil's Bridge and Tregaron. The village lies on the River Teifi, whose source is just 3 miles (5 km) to the east at Ll ...

Trail runs through the valley and the mountain bike trails of Bwlch Nant yr Arian skirt around the edge.

Stone Age

The presence of

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...

and Mesolithic hunters is unlikely, but that of

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

farmers cannot entirely be ruled out.

Bronze Age

Standing Stone in Cwmsymlog, Pant y Garreg Hir

In the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

several standing stones were erected. Dating of these holy places: c.2300-800 BC. Two stones are near Pen-bont Rhydybeddau (Head of the bridge Ford of the graves), one is near the

hill-fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

Pen y Castell, one in front of a house called Pant y Garreg Hir (Hollow of the Long Stone) and two lie close together with the name Buwch a'r Llo (Cow and Calf) east of the last one. Near-by these paired

monoliths A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

is another one. Also built in the Bronze Age are two burial mounds (cairns/piles of stones): Garn-Wen (White Cairn) lies near Pent-bont Rhydybeddau and Carn Dolgau (Cairn of Meadow of hollow) is near Cwmerfyn (cwm/valley). An interesting detail about the standing stone called Garreg Hir is that the stone was tumbling and eventually fell in 2017. That is why the Dutch archaeologist Lex Ritman contacted CADW in 2018 and with the cooperation and initiative of Louise Mees, regional inspector of ancient monuments and archaeology, the project started to re-erect this ancient monument. The reinstatement concerns a scheduled monument. It is legally protected. The reference name is Standing Stone c.500 m SW of Llyn Pendam, reference number CD 230. The procedure was interrupted by the coronapandemic, but in 2022 Louise Mees started again with the program to reset the stone. It was on the list of scheduled monuments at risk.

Iron Age

In the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

several hill-forts were constructed with ramparts and ditches. Banc-y-Darren (banc/hillside) lies south of Pent-bont Rhydybeddau and Pen y Castell (Head of the Castle) north of it. These defended villages are about 2000 years old.

Middle Ages and later

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times and perhaps earlier Cwmsymlog (East Darren) became a mining district. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century the region is mainly known for silver mining.

Smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...

was at Furnace (near Talybont) and in Aberystwyth Mint was the locally minted silver. Nantyrarian (Brook of silver) is of course a logical name. Later on lead mining became important. Especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Traces of these activities are everywhere: shafts like Skinner's Shaft, Taylor's Shaft and Pryse's Shaft, a tramway,

leat A leat (; also lete or leet, or millstream) is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Othe ...

s, wheel pits, spoil tips, the reservoir Llyn Pendam (Lake of the Head of the dam) and a recently restored mine chimney.

Chapels

Today there is a chapel in the heart of the settlement, first built in 1843 and later rebuilt in 1860. Built from thick, rubble filled stone walls with fine detailing to the quoins and a welsh slate roof. This Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel was established to serve the workers in the Cwmsymlog lead mines. The adjacent graveyard is the last resting place for several miners and their families. One of the more prominent graves is that of the mine captain. There is also a ruin near Pant y Garreg Hir with the name Tŷ Mawr (Big House). This ruin was the chapel built for the miners by Sir Hugh Myddleton (1560–1631).

Name Derivation

The name derivation of the name Cwmsymlog seems lost although one explanation is that it comes from 'cwm' meaning valley, ‘mwsogl’ meaning moss, together with an adjectival ending -og giving 'mossy valley'. Another possibility is 'valley of wild strawberries' Dewi Davies: ''Welsh place-names and their meanings'': printed by The Cambrian News, Aberystwyth, Ltd.: pp.1–47

TV series

The police detective drama Y Gwyll (Hinterland) was first shown in 2013 in the Welsh version, but a year later also in English. It was shot in Ceredigion, especially Aberystwyth and surroundings, including Pontarfynach ( Devil's Bridge) and

. Cwmsymlog featured in several episodes. The chapel was used for the dramatic conclusion to the first episode and one of the village houses was later dressed to create a pub.

References

{{reflist

External links

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Ceredigion Valleys of Ceredigion