The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Nant Tarw

Stone Circle

Fieldnotes

There is a parking place to the north of the circles and I presume this is where Elderford parked, but his route seemed a tad torturous so I drove through the forest to the east (Mynydd Wysg on the map) and parked by the two small rectangles on the map on the ground they are animal pens.
A short but uphill walk round the north side of the hill Foel Darw following the obvious path takes you up and over and down to "the bull brook" (Nant Tarw) Before going down to the river look across and you can see all the stones but most obvious is the big grey cairn head for that. When we reached the river I was a bit stunned to find a standing stone that isnt on any record,I don't know if its really genuine but after seeing everything else on the moor it's just got to be.

Above the stone is the cairn, it's a spread of stones like any other cairn move on to the ESE circle. 300ft west of this circle is a fallen menhir ten feet long but I didnt bring Burl with me so couldnt find it. Some of the stones are gone and some are just sticking their noses above the surface of this grassy sea, but some are more than a metre tall. From here theres only one place to go...yep,uphill to the western circle.

Before reaching the circle is a fallen menhir about 8ft long and would have dwarfed the circle stones just a few feet away, the stones are on average larger than the other circles stones but still small enough to keep the other anoraks away.
Most intriguing of the whole place is the three stone row just 28feet away from the west circle,
the tallest stone is sadly fallen though thankfully not on the two smaller stones, it would be an almost carbon copy of the Maen Mawr at Cerrig Duon four miles south east and very similar to Pant Meddygon three miles north, it must mean something. Perhaps the big stone is the Astronomer priest and the other two his acolites
or maybe the circles builder and his mates,or is that just stupid.

On the way back we were sitting across the river appreciating the whole moor when Eric cried "Crow" it was actually a Red Kite just a few metres above us, Iv'e never been that close to a free bird of prey, it was so close I thought it was going to attack us....... Amazing Place marvelous mega minilithic paradise
postman Posted by postman
14th April 2009ce
Edited 14th April 2009ce

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