Notes on TRAWSNANT, Llyn Brianne, Carmarthenshire 2010

The drive from Tregaron and up over the Abergwesyn mountain road has become a familiar one over the years. I can remember family outings whilst in my early teenage years and being shocked that there were such remote places in the world. It seems very much less remote now and quickly glancing at an Ordnance Survey map reveals remote farms, sheepfolds, water courses, field enclosures and other signs of previous uses of these seemingly barren hills.

Trawsnant and its outbuildings (not ruined but in agricultural use) is beautifully located, a few hundred yards yet well hidden from the road that wends itself slowly around the perimeter of the large reservoir. It is a little larger (higher and longer) than the traditional and commonplace farm houses of the area with the front doorway arched. There is little to see within except vacant chimney places and holes where floor and ceiling beams once crossed. It is just a stones throw away from the reservoir but was no doubt built before the flooding of the valley in the early 1970’s (the water supplies Swansea).