Trefignath
Chambered Cairn
County: Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Ordnance Survey Grid Ref: SH 259 805
O.S. Map / Aerial Photo (Multimap)
This restored cairn stands in a field about 0.6 miles (1 km) South-east of Holyhead, within sight of an aluminium reduction plant (visible in the background).
The site was excavated from 1977-9, which showed the cairn to be a multi-period construction. Around 3100 BC a simple rectangular chamber was built at the Western end, set in a small round cairn. A larger chamber with 9 ft (2.7 m) high portals was then constructed to the East of the first chamber together with a long, wedge-shaped cairn and a forecourt. A third chamber was then built within the forecourt, together with its own forecourt, and the cairn was extended Eastward. Pottery was found during the excavation, but no burials.
The site was probably in use for five or six centuries.
Carreg Bica
Standing Stone
County: West Glamorgan
O.S. Grid Ref: SS 725 995
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Located on Mynydd Drumau, North of the town of Skewen, the "Pointed Stone" is a slab of limestone measuring 14 ft (4.3 m) tall, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and 2 ft (0.6 m) thick. The stone has been incorporated into a field wall and acts as a convenient gate-post. It is also known as Maen Bradwen ('Bradwen's Stone'), probably after a local mythological hero. The stone can apparently be seen from much of the Neath estuary to the South.
There are two local legends attributed to the stone. One says that whenever it hears a cock crow, it visits the River Neath (Afon Nedd) for a drink. The other says that the stone bathes in the river every year on Easter morning.
There are many legends in Wales which associate standing stones with nearby water courses; folk tales such as these, passed down and embellished through the generations, may in some cases hint at an original function for these enigmatic monuments.
Druid's Circle (Penmaenmawr)
Stone Circle
County: Gwynedd (Caernarvonshire)
O.S. Grid Ref: SH 723 746
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Aerial Photo (Google Maps)
Situated on a low saddle overlooking Conway Bay, this embanked stone circle is 85 ft (26 m) in diameter and originally comprised thirty stones, but only ten are now standing. There is a gap in the circle at the WSW, which is flanked by two large portal stones.
The site was excavated in 1958. At the centre of the circle was a scattering of stones and a cist with an inverted food-vessel and the cremated remains of a ten-year-old child. The site is thought to date from around 2100 BC.
The noted archaeoastronomer Prof. Alexander Thom proposed two solar and one stellar alignment visible from within the circle. He suggested the shape of the ring was based on a ellipse with an ESE-WNW axis. However, it is equally likely that the stone circle was elliptical because its builders had made allowance for a prehistoric trackway which touched the monument on its Northern edge.
Many prehistoric sites across Wales are often associated with the Druids - the high priesthood of the Iron Age Celts - or are named after them, e.g. Druids Circle, Druid Stone, etc. However, the Druids did not build these monuments; when the Druids were at the height of their influence - in the final centuries before the Roman Conquest of Britain - these megalithic sites had already been in existence for at least a thousand years.
Gwern-y-Cleppa
Burial Chamber
County: Newport (Gwent)
O.S. Grid Ref: ST 276 851
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Located in a field a short distance North of the M4 motorway between Cardiff and Newport, this ruinous tomb is also known by the name Cleppa Park.
The remains of a burial chamber are positioned at the Eastern end of a long, low mound approximately 134 ft (41 m) long, orientated East-West. The chamber is composed of siliceous grey sandstone, with four orthostats and a collapsed capstone.
It is reasonable to assume that in its original form the monument would have been a simple terminal chamber of the Severn-Cotswold type.
Llech y Dribedd
Burial Chamber
County: Pembrokeshire (Dyfed)
O.S. Grid Ref: SN 100 432
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Video capture
A red sunset illuminates the capstone of an eccentric tomb located near the summit of an exposed plateau overlooking Carn Ingli to the South-west.
Three orthostats standing 4 ft (1.2 m) tall support a wedge-shaped capstone 10 ft (3 m) long, 6½ ft (2 m) wide and ca.4 ft (1.2 m) thick. A fourth stone lies prostrate nearby, which may originally have been a fourth upright, according to a 1693 account of the site. The chamber is orientated just to the South of East.
Archaeologist Frances Lynch considers the site peculiar in its class, due in part to the "odd angle at which the portal stones are set, neither well-aligned to the chamber nor parallel to one another."
A local legend says that St Samson hurled the stones to this spot from the summit of Carn Ingli.
Meini Hirion (Llanfechell)
Standing Stones
County: Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
O.S. Grid Ref: SH 364 917
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Looking like three old men in conversation, the Meini Hirion ("tall stones") are set in a peculiar triangular formation, the sides of the triangle so formed are 11 ft (3.4 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m) by 9½ ft (2.9 m). They stand between 6 ft (1.9 m) and 7 ft (2.1 m) high.
The wide spacing and placement of these stones make it unlikely that they are the remnants of a burial chamber. British archaeologist Aubrey Burl has suggested that these and similar settings of stones may have been coves - Bronze Age representations of the Neolithic burial chambers which preceded them.
Ty Newydd
Burial Chamber
County: Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
O.S. Grid Ref: SH 344 738
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Ty Newydd ("new house") is a classic example of a cromlech, with three uprights supporting a capstone which is 12 ft (3.6 m) long by 5 ft (1.5 m) wide.
Excavation in 1935 revealed a layer of black earth within the chamber, which contained a considerable amount of charcoal. An arrowhead, pottery fragments and pieces of white quartz were also found, but there were no signs of burial. Evidence from the excavation suggested that the chamber, although built in the Neolithic period, was also used during the Bronze Age.
A fallen stone was re-erected during the excavation. Early accounts of the site refer to other stones in the vicinity which were possibly the remnants of a second chamber, or a passage.
As is the case at many prehistoric sites in Britain, the name of this monument does not describe the monument itself, but is a name taken from that of a nearby farmhouse or other residence.
Carreg Hir
Standing Stone
County: Powys (Montgomeryshire)
O.S. Grid Ref: SO 014 969
O.S. Map (Multimap)
About 3 miles (5 km) North-west of Caersws, this inconspicuous boulder stands 5 ft (1.5 m) high on the slope of a hill, with good views towards the South. It is one of many hundreds of standing stones, of unknown purpose, scattered throughout the British Isles.
The stone is orientated ENE-WSW. Interestingly, this is approximately the direction to a recently-discovered stone circle called Llyn-y-Tarw (SO 025 972) which is about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) to the ENE of the stone. The circle is 62 ft (19 m) in diameter and has at least 39 stones. The circle was not discovered until 1981 because the stones were very small and were deeply buried in the peat.
Carreg Coetan Arthur
Burial Chamber
County: Pembrokeshire (Dyfed)
O.S. Grid Ref: SN 060 393
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Video capture
This tomb is situated within a housing estate a short distance from a minor road leading out of Newport, Dyfed, with a good view of Carn Ingli to the South.
Also called Pen y Bont or simply Coetan Arthur, the capstone is 10½ ft (3.2 m) long by 9 ft (2.7 m) wide and rests on just two orthostats. A portal stone at the Eastern corner is missing, and would be expected to have existed, however excavation of the site in 1979-80 did not reveal any indication of a stone socket in this position. Also found during excavation were cremated human bone and pot sherds of Neolithic date. An arc of small stones, similar to a ring cairn, was found curving around the chamber's Southern side.
As at Llech y Dribedd (see above), the apparent height of the portal was intentionally exaggerated by the use of a wedge-shaped capstone.
Pen-maen Burrows
Burial Chamber
County: West Glamorgan
O.S. Grid Ref: SS 531 881
O.S. Map (Multimap)
Hiding among the overgrown sand dunes near Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower peninsula, this ruinous monument comprises two rectangular chambers and a passage, in a transepted layout.
The main chamber is 13 ft (4 m) long by 6½ ft (2 m) wide, made of six uprights. The Southern chamber opens from the main chamber and measures 8½ ft (2.6 m) by 4½ ft (1.4 m). The capstone has been displaced from its original position. There was probably a third chamber on the Northern side and possibly a covering cairn, but they are obscured by a sand dune.
There were minor excavations in 1860 and 1881. A human jaw fragment, animal bones, a piece of a bone tool handle and pieces of pottery were recovered from the Southern chamber. [Ast]
