Garway Hill common must offer one of the best viewpoints in the whole of the Welsh borderlands (Photo; Photo), so it's strange not to find it inundated with burial mounds, particularly given the presence on its slopes of what may or may not be ancient earthworks*. However, one suspects that part of the problem is that there's been so much activity on the hilltop, that it would be hard to determine what was or was not ancient. For example, at the top of the hill are the brick remains of a World War Two radio tower*. Around it is what certainly looks like the dug out remains of a tumulus (Photo; Photo), but it is almost impossible to know given the recent construction activity. Equally, there are other mounds and earthworks on the common top. Almost all the Ordnance Survey maps up to the modern era show a variety of circles towards the top of the hill, all in different places, and all of which are ambiguous. Here are some photos of one potential mound/spring combination, which is half way between the mast and the hilltop: Photo; Photo; Photo; Photo; Photo; Photo, plus a few other lumps and bumps in the same area: Photo - though it should be noted that there was a lot of work in this area associated with the radio-tower*.

The most likely candidate for our wonder, however, is a slight rise near the TV mast (Photo; Photo). While this appears natural, at least two archaeological groups** have suggested it is a neolithic burial mound1. Olding gives its dimensions as 30m by 16m by 2m high*, much larger than the description in the Historia. There are at least two springs mapped out on Ordnance Survey sheets within 200m of the feature on the Garron side of the common, and the one just to the west is marked on the 1st OS maps of the area (mapped some time in the second half of the 1800s). However, the whole area is generally leaking water to the head of the Garron, which is just below the common here, and there are at least 10 other suitable springs within a few hundred metres, including that shown in the photos above, which is not marked on the map but is undoubtably the closest.

There are also some other sites of interest Around Garway...