Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Carreg Maen Taro
Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales
The record
- Designation
- Listed building, Grade II
- Broad class
- Civil
- Date of designation
- 9 February 1995
- Town
- Garn-yr-Erw
- Community
- Blaenavon
- Unitary authority
- Torfaen
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates
- 51.79532, -3.10589
- Cadw reference
- 15306
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1636 "Cornubia : Devonia, Somersetus, Dorcestria, Wiltonia, Glocestria ..." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Cadw's description
Location
Located at the top of the mountain 1.5 km north of Garn-yr-Erw, at the border of the Blaenavon, Llanfoist Fawr and Llanelly communities.
Exterior
A roughly hewn standing stone 1.7m high marked with the letters 'B' and 'M' and surrounded by a spread of smaller stones. It is traditionally reputed to mark the site of an ancient battle. The date of erection is uncertain. However the stone is situated on the line of the former boundary between the counties of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire, to which the letters refer. The 'M' is carved on the south-east side and the 'B' on the north. The letters are in a primitive serifed Roman style, suggesting they were probably carved in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The stone also marks the geological fault known by the name, which can be translated as'stone of rock striking', meaning perhaps that the standing stone was where surface rock was met at the fault.
Reason for designation
Listed as an unusual surviving county boundary stone.
Nearby in the register
- Ironstone Quarries at Carreg Maen TaroQuarryunder 1 mi
- Dyne Steel InclineInclineunder 1 mi
- Pwll Du VillageSettlementunder 1 mi
- Stone Chimney at the former Hill PitsIndustrialunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.