Martha's Lane

This is a copy from the 1907 "twenty-five inch" map of the Cilgwyn - Carningli area.  Look at the well-marked lane that runs down from Blaen-waun towards Waun-fach and Iet-y-rhos.  It's a public footpoath and bridleway -- brought back into use through the combined efforts of the local footpaths group and the NPA.  It's got no name, so far as I know -- but I always refer to it as "Martha's Lane" because I have visions of Mistress Martha walking down it on her way from Plas Ingli towards Cilgwyn and the church.  It was certainly the main route between Cilgwyn and the mountain -- and its width and substantial bounding stone walls attest to the fact that it took animals and quite possibly wheeled vehicles as well, in the days before the modern Dolrannog Road was built.  You can see how the trackway extends westwards from Blaen-waun, across the common.

All the houses are still there, except for Waun-fach, about which there is a very sad tale, which I'll tell in another post.

By the way, Blaen-waun was where William John Jenkins and his brother Dewi lived -- and it is the cottage in which the imaginary Abraham Jenkins lived and translated Martha's diaries from the Dimetian Welsh dialect into English!