Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Beacon Hill

14.08.15  Castell Tinboeth (SO 089 754)  

Castell Tinboeth (SO 089 754)

Castell Tinboeth is one of the most impressive ancient hill forts anywhere in Wales, I had only visited this hill once before but can still remember the shock and elation of finding such a place as I had neither expected its scale or its dramatic earthworks.

The hill can be easily accessed from the busy A483; we parked in a large lay-by and walked a few metres back beside the road on its grass verge to a grassed track and public footpath which climbs up through a lovely deciduous wood.

The early flowering of heather and its dulled and silken purple added warmth to the greens of the path, the wood is well managed with numerous bird boxes giving home and shelter to a variety of species.  The wood is named Castle Wood and as we walked off the road onto its track Aled spotted an unusually shaped bird of prey circling overhead, he had enough time to take a couple of photos and pass them onto a friend who wonders if a Honey Buzzard is flying around these parts of mid Wales.

The dulled and silken purple of heather as we set off for the summit of Castell Tinboeth

The beautiful deciduous woodland of Castle Wood

On the way through the wood Aled found a beautifully coloured beetle, its iridescent blue strikingly piercing against its black body, it happily posed for a number of photos before it was gently put back to earth.

The vivid iridescence of a beetle

Emerging out of the wood we followed a semblance of a path as it crept up past old trees and high fern, by now the steep upper sides of the hill could be seen above a small copse of Larch trees that had stood firmly against the westerlies, but were now implanted at an angle.

A foot stile gives access to the rim of one of a series of earthworks, with the inner ditch below being overshadowed by the bulk and height of the central part of the hill fort.  This inner part is impressive and dominates its surroundings, a map and its contours cannot do such a place justice, and it is only a visit when the solitude of surroundings and when the freshing breeze blows that can transport you back in time when this structure was one of many guarding this part of Wales.

The central bulk of Castell Tinboeth

Looking out to the south

The view south beyond the Afon Ieithon

Castell Tinboeth is an impressive structure and one of the best ancient hill forts in Wales

The last two of a series of earthworks are the most impressive, with a path leading around their circumference with the inner bulk of hill towering above.  A small land bridge connected this earthwork to the central part of the hill and we followed it across and clambered up to the inner earthwork which looked down into a large coned shaped central area.

Although our main purpose was for Aled to bag the hill and for me to Trimble it, these modern purposes seemed secondary to where we were, as the whole place pervades one of tranquillity and almost forgotten history.

There is information on-line about the 12^th or 13^th century Mortimer castle whose segment of remains stands out and peers down on the upper central area of the hill, but very little is documented about the ancient hill fort that preceded the medieval castle, best left to the imagination I suppose.

As we walked around the rim of the inner earthwork it was obvious that two points vied for the accolade of summit, both were Trimbled with Aled and I favouring the westerly one to be the higher, this is where the current 406m spot height appears on the Ordnance Survey enlarged map on the Geograph website.

Gathering data from the westerly option for the summit of Castell Tinboeth, with Aled sitting on the easterly option for the summit on right of photo and the remains of the medieval castle centre left of photo

As the Trimble did its stuff we busied ourselves trying to avoid the influx of extremely large and colourful slugs that seemed to be everywhere.  As the last of the data were collected and the Trimble packed away we both photographed a large mushroom, with the summit of the hill as background and looked at the delicate colouring and shape of a patch of mountain pansies, whose beautifully yellowed faces suddenly sprang up out of the surrounding land once one had been spotted.

A large mushroom

Gathering data from the easterly option for the summit of Castell Tinboth

A mountain pansy

All that remained was for us to retrace our steps and head for a good Indian meal in Newtown.  Castell Tinboeth is highly recommended and stands out as one of the best of hills listed in Y Pedwarau.

Survey Result:

Castell Tinboeth

Summit Height:  405.7m (converted to OSGM15)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 08983 75462

Bwlch Height:  343.9m (LIDAR)

Bwlch Grid Reference:  SO 09483 75595 (LIDAR)

Drop:  61.8m (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

Dominance:  15.24% (Trimble summit and LIDAR bwlch)

For further details please consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}