Pound land

Another glorious day of this Indian summer we are having in West Wales makes choosing each new blip a struggle. So much golden sunshine, russet woodland, and scarlet-berried hedgerow to choose from!
But my walk today was aimed at finding, finally, the old animal pound near Trefdraeth (Newport) which has eluded me hitherto. I circled across the mountainside above and had the good fortune to meet a couple of locals who were able to direct me down the right path - and there it was, not quite hidden in the dying bracken, a circular enclosure with stone and turf walls a good five feet thick and one narrow entrance still with an old iron gate.
Community pounds like this were in use from the middle ages until the early twentieth century. Lost and strayed animals, perhaps missed from the hillside gathering, could be kept safe until reunited with their owners, for a fee.

What can be seen from this vantage point is the pound, fields stretching to the coast beyond and, top left, the hazy cliffs of Dinas Head where it juts into the sea.