Mynydd Carningli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mynydd Carningli
Elevation	347 m (1,138 ft)
Location	Pembrokeshire, Wales
Range	Preseli Hills
Prominence	233 m
Parent peak	Foel Cwmcerwyn
Topo map	OS Landranger 145
Last eruption	450 million years ago
OS grid reference	SN062371
Listing	Marilyn
Translation	Angel–rock mountain (Welsh)
Pronunciation	[ˈmənɪð ka:rˈnɪŋli]

Mynydd Carningli is a small mountain or hill near the town of Newport in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales.

It is less than 400 m high, but it is close to the coast and dominates the surrounding countryside. It is easy to climb but has a rocky summit and a steep scree slope on its southern and eastern flanks. It is all that is left of an ancient volcano which erupted around 450 million years ago — from some directions the "volcanic profile" is still marked. The mountain has always had sacred associations — it was probably called Mons Angelorum in the Middle Ages, and according to legend Saint Brynach (a local saint) used to climb to the summit to find serenity, to pray and to "commune with the angels" in the 5th century. In some old texts and maps the mountain is called Carn Yengly or Carnengli, which are probably corruptions of Carn Engylau. Strictly, this would be translated as "the rocky summit of the angels." However, this derivation of the name is not universally agreed^[1].

The mountain is still used for sacred ceremonies by people of many faiths and none^{[citation needed]}. People from far and wide ask that when they die their ashes should be scattered on Carningli^{[citation needed]}, and in a sense it is a "spiritual cathedral" and place of pilgrimage.

It nowadays attracts many new visitors^{[citation needed]} because of the popularity of Brian John's "Angel Mountain Saga" of five volumes, recounting the life of Mistress Martha Morgan of Plas Ingli. These books were published at the rate of one per year, 2001–2005. The mountain is the heroine's personal sanctuary, and is almost a character in the stories.

If you look at the mountain skyline from the south, you can see the profile of a reclining female — head, breast, rib cage, stomach and raised knees. So there are some^{[citation needed]} who believe that this is the Earth Goddess, fast asleep.

There was once a little "mountain railway" on Carningli, carrying broken stone from a small quarry down to a crushing plant on the Cilgwyn Road. Some railway sleepers can still be found in the turf, but otherwise the only traces remaining are the two stone pillars that supported a cable drum — a cable was used to control the descent of the loaded wagons as they rolled downhill, and then to pull the empty ones back up again. This little industry was abandoned before 1930.

The summit of the mountain supports one of the most complex and interesting Iron Age hillforts in Wales. There are massive stone embankments which served as defences, a "village" with about 25 hut circles, and a set of three outer enclosures on the windward side of the mountain. Below the scree slope there are two further defensive walls. In places natural cliffs and scree slopes have been used as defences. Outside the walls there are other hut circles, enclosures, paddocks, terraced fields, storage huts and other stone-bounded features with mysterious origins. There are at least six entrances into the fortified site. For further information on the prehistory of the mountain, see Carningli hillfort.