Stories

 The sheepfolds have not just been used for sorting sheep. A farmer who lives near Llanllechid told me that he could recall his father telling him about the time the sheepfold Buarth Fro-wen, in Cwm Caseg, was full of Carneddau Ponies. Farms in the area bred up to 100 each and grazed them on the Carneddau before being collected in the sheepfold and then driven down to Menai Bridge fair, about 10 miles away, where they would be sold as pit-ponies.

It takes longer to gather the sheep on a hot sunny day because the sheep don't like leaving the mountain, and the dogs get tired as well, according to a farmer in Rachub.

The area around this sheepfold, on Foel Lwyd, is covered with heather and bilberry plants. Farmer Dewi Jones told me that his father, and his grandfather, told him that after shearing it was important to send the sheep up to graze around the bilberries and heather, as they were believed to be generally good for the health of the sheep.

When the large estates started enclosing the common land around the 18th century (for more information, see here), it was not popular and in some areas, riots took place. In one area of north Wales, near Nebo, the enclosing wall was built during the day by the estate, only to be knocked down each night as quarrymen returned home from work.

Up until 1951, the Penrhyn Estate owned much of the land - and the farms - across the northern Carneddau. Once a year, for the farmers around Abergwyngregyn, the Estate insisted that their sheep were sent down to one of the sheepfolds on Estate land, Corlan Hen, to be counted. Any farm found to have too many sheep could be fined (presumably a method of stopping overgrazing). However, usually a week or so before this happened, the farmers had another gathering of their sheep, this time in the sheepfold called Buarth Newydd (pictured) which is on common land, away from the reach of the Estate. This gathering was arranged by the farmers so that they could do a count themselves, before the 'official' one. It would not be surprising to hear that one or two sheep 'went missing' during the following week  in order to get the right numbers expected by the Penrhyn Estate! The Estate land passed to the National Trust in 1951, when the practice ended.

Jacob Roberts was born at Bryn Rhedyn in Llanfairfechan in 1869. His parents both died while he was young, and his siblings left the family home in the mid 1880s, some moving to south Wales to find work. Jacob went to stay with John Jones and his family at Glyn Farm, Abergwyngregyn, and he worked on the farm until he was older, after which he became a shepherd, looking after the farm's sheep on the hills above the village. He married Elizabeth in 1896 and they had seven children.

During one cold spring there was a late blizzard and Jacob found himself stranded on the hills with his sheep, the snow drifting five or six feet deep. Many of his flock were buried alive that night and the only way for him to survive was to dig a shelter in the snow. The following morning, knowing he would not survive another night, he struggled down the valley with his dogs and eventually met a rescue party that had been sent from the village.

It was decided that shepherds could never again be stranded in such conditions, and a hut was built in Pant Mawr, which still stands today. The hut was used by Jacob and had space for a small fire, above which a kettle hung on a chain. In front of the hut are the remains of a small sheepfold, as well as a shelter in which his pony was possibly tethered.

Jacob passed away aged 79 in 1949.

(With thanks to Margaret Roberts and Gwynedd Archaeological Trust)