Walkers and ramblers are invited to trek along the seven-mile ridge of the Preseli Mountain in a symbolic freedom walk on Saturday, May 16, 2009 Interpretive stones will be unveiled on the day on either end of the north Pembrokeshire mountain to commemorate the stand made by local inhabitants 60 years ago.

If it were not for the leadership shown by the local Nonconformist ministers and school headmasters at the end of the 1940s the mountain would today be out of bounds.

The War Office wanted to take over the whole mountain range as a permanent military training ground which would have meant even the famous bluestone outcrop would be a no go area.

One of the main arguments of the campaigners was that even the source of some of the Stonehenge stones, that is very much part of English heritage, would be desecrated along with another 37 listed ancient monuments.

The mountain is within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and the Authority has given planning permission for the placing of the stones in a manner that will sustain the rustic look of the mountain.

Octogenarian shepherd, Jennie Howells, who has spent her whole life on the mountain, will unveil the boulder at Bwlchgwynt on the western end at the summit of the B4329 road. Her family’s livelihood would have been lost had not the battle been won.

There will also be a short religious ceremony, musical items and orations prior to the unveiling at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be conducted primarily through the medium of Welsh as a tribute to those who made a stand and foresaw that the presence of militarism on the mountain would wipe out over two thousand years of indigenous Welshness.

The second unveiling, following the Freedom Walk, will be at the foot of Foel Drigarn on the eastern end at approximately 3 p.m. Following a similar ceremony the unveiling will be done by the current mountain bailiff, Dyfed Davies, whose flock is one of the largest on the mountain.

Hopefully the Freedom Walk will become an annual pilgrimage and has been organised by Clychau Clochog, a local cultural society. A book was recently published charting the little known ‘Battle of the Preselau – the campaign to safeguard the ‘sacred’ Pembrokeshire hills 1946-1948’ by Hefin Wyn.

The author will deliver a lecture entitled ‘Let’s Keep the Mountain ‘Sacred’ at Caffi Beca on the A478 at Efail-wen on the Friday evening as part of a month long Preseli Walking Festival organised by PLANED.

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