See the Bwlch y Ddeufaen Roman Road Click the Links

© Kanovium Project

Having located the original site of the two classic milestones I decided to include a page on the Roman road which they stood next to.  Which due to the extreme remoteness of the site meant that it is in good condition and well worth a visit.  So on Thursday 29th May 2002 we drove up into the the foothills of the Carneddau mountains from the general area of Aber Falls.  You eventually arrive at a small parking area, which is the end of the road, frowned down upon by Foel Dduarth, you are immediately struck by the strange ancient atmosphere of the Carneddau Mountains, the name means ‘the cairns’ or burial mounds, and prehistoric man is evident as soon as you ascend the Roman road, now a sunken green lane, (follow the field wall, left)  the Roman road can be viewed as a sunken terrace.  Shortly you reach a level shelf, this shelf contains ancient cairns and small standing stones, these are older than the Roman interest and are ‘way markers’ and are smaller than the usual size for standing stones, the image above shows one of these stones, standing next to the trackway, right, silently guiding the traveller over this high ridge in times of blizzard or mist.  They most likely date to the Neolithic or Bronze ages, and this image was taken at the second highest point of the road, at 1280 feet above sea level, only one place is higher, the Pass of the Two stones at 1403 feet - The Bwych y Ddeufaen.  A point I have to make is that I am not 100% certain that the Roman route follows this line, at some points we thought we could see an another road much lower down the slope, actually on the same line as the pylons which follow the road for all the distance on this northward slope of the mountains, the electricity company remarked an ancient road had been located when digging footings for the pylons during the late 1960’s  When examined archaeologically the road was found to be probably Roman,  this was slabbed (slabs are also to be seen also on the Roman road Sarn Helen, near Blaenau Ffestiniog but are not common on Roman roads in North Wales) and edged by slate kerbs, so that must be what we saw below.  But, this route is obviously pre Roman and possibly both levels were used, the two routes certainly join at the area of the cairn field, so possibly the lower may have been an initial military road, while the higher was, possibly contemporary but for civilian use. We can be certain Roman soldiers have walked here, these images give an interesting impression of both Roman building tenacity and the enigmatic feel of the Carnedds, I once read that ‘Snowdon has the feel of the tourist, while the Carnedds have the atmosphere of the ‘Great God Pan’  Please take a short tour of the Roman road by clicking the following links