CHAPTER XLVI 



Castell Carn Dochan Roman remains Vestiges of introduced fertility 

 Wild -flowers Gold mine Minerals Geology Birds breeding in 

 immature plumage Peregrine's nest Powers of vision Moorland 

 scavengers Bachelor Grouse Plumage of Grouse A keeper's rail. 



BEFORE bidding adieu to Llanuwchllyn, space must be found 

 for some reference to Castell Carn Dochan, a huge promon- 

 tory of rock that abruptly terminates one of the lower spurs 

 of Ffridd-Helyg-y-Moch, about a mile north of the village. 

 Dominating the whole of the lower vale of the Lliw, and at 

 the same time shutting off the low lands from the mountains, 

 it forms one of the chief landmarks of the district. Such a 

 site could never have failed to attract the attention of a 

 military genius, and consequently we find its almost impreg- 

 nable summit occupied by the remains of a Roman strong- 

 hold, founded probably upon a yet more ancient camp. 

 Save for the narrow neck, doubly guarded by fosse and 

 vallum, by which it is connected to the mountain, the 

 fort is bounded upon every side by precipitous cliffs, 

 recalling from a strategic point of view the situation of 

 such castles as Stirling or Dumbarton, and like many of 

 these natural fortresses the rock may owe its origin to 

 its having been a neck, or vent, of the adjacent volcano. 

 The enclosed space is of comparatively small dimensions, 

 the ruins showing the walls to have been six or eight 

 feet in thickness, but little more than their foundations 

 now remain. Springing from amongst the tumbled 

 stones, Nettles bear witness that the fertility which man 

 introduced to so forbidding a spot has not even yet 

 been exhausted ; while the Black Spleenwort (Aspknium 

 trichomanes] and the Hairbell have discovered the wasted 

 Roman mortar in the chinks of the masonry to be to 

 their liking. 



39* 



