13.10.15
Caergwrle (SJ 306 571)
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| Artists's impression of Caergwrle (SJ 306 571) |
Caergwrle is
steeped in history as it was the last castle built by the Welsh before the
subjugation handed out to the country by its near neighbours across the
border. Construction of the castle began
in 1277 but by 1282 it had been slighted by Dafydd ap Gruffudd as he retreated
from the castle under the impending invasion by Edward 1.
The castle stands on top
of a hill overlooking the fertile plains of Cheshire to its east and the small
town that has taken its name from the castle; Caergwrle, at its base to the west.
It is listed as a grade 1 structure and its ruins are cared for by the
Caergwrle Community Council.
There is a car park in the town that is free of charge that is just to the north of the castle which
was full when I visited, however parking close to the car park can be found on
adjacent streets. I wanted to try and
survey this hill’s critical bwlch and continued past the castle entrance to the
top of the A 541, to my left (east) was undergrowth leading up to the castle ruins
and to my right (west) were houses and bungalows.
The last bungalow in the
town is situated where the road started to dip away downhill, beyond this
bungalow is a field with a central wet area indicating the position of the land
on the valley to valley traverse. As I
walked up the road the land to my right also climbed steadily, and although it
consisted of bungalows their front drives and gardens steadily gained height up
toward where the critical bwlch for this hill is situated.
This critical bwlch
could be positioned on the drive of any one of the last three bungalows, I
chose the central one, and as the ground hereabouts had been terra formed with
gardens, drives and house construction I did not think that in the grand scheme
of critical bylchau that it mattered much which one I chose.
However, the land was
definitely going down on the hill to hill traverse toward the front door of the
central of the last three bungalows, this door was positioned on the side of
the building, therefore I needed to place the Trimbe in an enclosed space on
the drive of this bungalow. I knocked on
the door and Pamela Jones answered, I smiled and we chatted, I explained my
unusual hobby and told her about the Trimble and my need to survey her
drive. Pamela proved a delight to talk
to and kindly gave me permission to set the Trimble up and gather data just outside
her front door.
I had a potter around
the back of Pamela’s bungalow and assessed her back garden, but decided that
the critical bwlch was positioned a couple of metres from her front door in the
centre of her drive. Within a few
minutes the Trimble was sitting on top of my rucksack and I’d measured a 0.44m
offset and off it went beeping away gathering its allotted 300 datum points.
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| Gathering data on Pamela's drive |
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| Pamela Jones - a lovely person to meet |
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| Gathering data at the critical bwlch of Caergwrle |
Once it had been packed
away I knocked on the door and thanked Pamela for letting me survey her drive,
she happily posed for a number of photographs and kindly said that I could put
one on my blog. Pamela proved a lovely
woman to meet and I’m ever so grateful that she let a complete stranger in to
her life for the ten or fifteen minutes that it took for the survey.
With bwlch data gathered
I walked back down the road toward the town’s War Memorial, next to which a
path led up toward the remains of the castle.
Across the A 541 Mynydd yr Hôb rose with its easterly
slopes covered in deciduous trees, by the time I’d reached the remains of the
castle the sun cast out warmth and my body was overheating due to wearing a
fleece coat.
I circled the castle’s
remains and looked for the highest natural ground I could find, this proved to
be a flattish rock outcrop above a large drop that overlooked ground to the
west, at the base of this drop is where a 16th century millstone
quarry was once situated, the workings of which cut deep in to the hillside
coursing one wall and two towers of the castle to collapse.
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| Part of the castle's remains |
As the Trimble ebbed
down to its required 0.1m accuracy before data should be logged I sat on one of
the castle walls and soaked up the sun and the atmospheric surrounds, only
occasionally scampering off to check on the Trimble’s downward progress. As the 0.1m figure glared back at me I
quickly pressed ‘Log’ and retired back to my stone seat in the sun.
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| Gathering data at the summit of Caergwrle |
After five minutes of
data were collected I switched the equipment off, packed it away and
contentedly wandered down the path and back to my car. My last planned walk of the day was due south
on the outskirts of Rhostyllen, which forms one of the south-west suburbs of
Wrexham. Above this Wrexham suburb is a
mound of coal waste that looks down on the countryside and I’d wanted to visit
this hill for a number of years and even more so now having a Trimble. The hill is known locally as Hafod Bank and
it consists of the remains of coal spoil from the Hafod Mine. Would it reach P30 status? I was betting that it would.
Survey Result:
Summit Height: 137.8m (converted to OSGM15)
Summit Grid Reference: SJ 30670 57148
Bwlch Height: 96.0m (converted to OSGM15)
Bwlch Grid Reference: SJ 30592 57084
Drop: 41.9m
Dominance: 30.39%
For further details please
consult the Trimble survey spreadsheet click {here}
