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Wales
The Four StonesStone Circle
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An old and dear friend was very fond of an expression that I still remember to this day. 'Words fail me. Please see sketch.' Such is the impression that Old Radnor leaves you with. Upon arrival, you find yourself saying 'Is that it?', but hours later, on the drive home, you find yourself mulling over what you actually saw. It is true that first impressions are underwhelming. The geography of the landscape, and the immensity of the plain on which the stones are situated, tend to detract from the scale of the construct. Approached through mountains, then hills, the visitors field of view remains on the horizon, and the stones, magnificent as they are, cannot compete with the surroundings. And yet, and yet... Turn your gaze inwards and puzzle. Exactly how deep are these beasts? What do they feel? Struck deep into a soil that has fed generations for thousands of years, these monsters know all there is to know about the seasons and their cycle. Empires have come and gone, farmers born and died, but they have remained constant. I felt humbled. The pure depth intrigues me. Try stamping around the bases and listen to the acoustics. Are there chambers below? Trace the cupmarks with a finger. I struggled but then found them, and their gentle bowls and furrows made perfect sense when traced in tandem with a survey of the distant mountains. It was a strange feeling leaving the stones, but their attraction increases as you draw distant. Next time, I will approach with a far more inward looking mind, and greater subtlety. But until then, substituting the word 'sketch' for the remarkable photographs found here on this site... 'Words fail me...' |
Posted by Dominic_Brayne12th August 2003ce Edited 12th August 2003ce |
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Visited 21st June 2003: My first visit to the Four Stones left me under-impressed. I got the feeling that the stones were standing in isolation from their surroundings. Second time round it all felt like it made a bit more sense (whatever that means). I took greater care to look at the hills framing the plateau where the Four Stones stand, and spotted a distinctive distant hill that is obscured by a large tree near the stones (I think this is Burfa Camp). I also found the three cupmarks that I'd failed to look for on my first visit. |
Posted by Kammer30th July 2003ce Edited 30th July 2003ce |
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Visited 11th May 2003: The Radnor Four Stones were my penultimate stop off on the way home from Oxford. It was my first visit to the site, and I was travelling 'sans map'. I overshot on the A44, turning off too far west. After asking directions from a friendly farmer I doubled back, and eventually ended up in the right place. The four stones are enormous, but sat as they are in a big flat field, it all seemed a bit of an anticlimax when I got there. The stones are so squat and rounded that they could almost be sat on the surface rather than embedded in the ground (obviously this isn't the case). They don't seem to be orientated in any obvious way. I didn't feel my eye being drawn to anything specific. I'm new to the 'four poster' thing, so perhaps it takes a while to tune into. After all that driving I was probably in the 'wrong place' for the Four Stones. It goes without saying that this is a truly megalithic site, probably pivotal in a landscape of smaller sites, so it that respect 'je ne regret rein'. The visit left me wondering what a four poster is doing in mid Wales! |
Posted by Kammer 16th June 2003ce Edited 30th July 2003ce |
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- Visited jubilee w/e - I visited this site the same w/e as Arthur's stone (near Dorstone) and Harold's Stones, and I have to say this was my clear favourite. The stones are indeed massive, being over 4ft in width at their base, which my meager maths tells me is over 12ft in circumference. They sit by the edge of a field in a plain surrounded on all sides by hills, which provide a beautiful setting. I checked all the stones for markings, but I wasn't able to discern any, unfortunately :-/ Also someone appears to have dug underneath the fallen stone (presumably why it fell...) This site is the sort of place one could lose oneself for several hours, just sitting peacefully reflecting the insolubles of life. |
Posted by juamei4th June 2002ce Edited 16th June 2003ce |
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These stones are huge! The few photographs I had seen prior to coming here didn't do justice to the bulk of these stones - my photographs seem to make these stones look small too. The compact size of the circle, coupled with the size of the stones has to be seen. The setting is good - a flat plain hemmed in by the surrounding peaks. Old Radnor is in clear view in the distance. |
Posted by IronMan7th May 2002ce Edited 19th May 2003ce |
Folklore |
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Four Stones, Old Radnor.-- There was a great battle fought here, and four kings were killed. The Four Stones were set up over their graves. (Kington Workhouse, 1908.)Welsh Folklore Items, I Ella M. Leather Folklore, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Mar., 1913), pp. 106-110. |
Posted by Rhiannon2nd October 2006ce |
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In WH Howse's 'Radnorshire' of 1949, the author mentions that at the time of writing many farmers still felt in awe of the stones. The hay was left unmown around them and some people avoided going near them after dark. Well you wouldn't want to risk it - they'll be lumbering off to the Hindwell pool when they hear the Old Radnor bells. Mentioned by Simpson in her 'Folklore of the Welsh Border' (1976). |
Posted by Rhiannon 4th March 2005ce Edited 28th July 2005ce |
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This was a favourite spot of the old ley-hunter, Alfie Watkins, who mentions it in several of his books. Particularly, he thought two leys occurred here, saying how "the first goes to the highest point in Deerfield Forest (The Camp, 940ft) in one direction, and in the other through The Folly and on the main road at Llanvihangel-nant-Melan, over Bryn-y-Maen Hill, here appearing to strike another 'four stones' ...to some peak beyond." The second ley "starts from Bach Hill...through the Four Stones, dead on main road through Walton village, dead on main road past Eccles Green, through Upperton Farm and Kenchester Church, and dead on the present road which is the SW boundary of the Roman station of Magna; the going over the Wye through Breinton Church." (Early British Trackways, 1922 - p.18) |
Posted by Paulus3rd February 2005ce Edited 4th February 2006ce |
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I can remember a local tale that the Four Stones are the burial ground of four kings of ancient Wales, and that if you tap the ground between them it sounds hollow. Also according to Radnor legend, the stones go to nearby Hindwell pool to drink at midnight. This has also been attributed to several other standing stones in the area. |
Posted by a lighthouse keeper 11th June 2002ce Edited 16th June 2003ce |
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