This site is of disputed antiquity. If you have any information that could help clarify this site's authenticity, please post below or leave a post in the forum.
There is some dispute over the authenticity of this standing stone. But It takes your breath away when you see it standing in the grave yard. The stone is over 8 feet high. It seems to be aligned with Carn Fadryn - your eye goes straight to the hill over the valley.
The hole near the top was apparently when the stone was used to hold a lantern, which leads you to believe it is an true relic, as a christian object wouldn't be used in such a flippant way.
Oh be careful parking outside the church, as I was nearly hit by a white van speeding along!
Visited the general locality passing through Sarn Meyllteyrn in 2005. was informed from a local source [Gwenllian] that the place name could be broken down as follows
sarn - ford
meyll (mal) - place [of]
teyrn - king or kings
the standing stone and site is thought of as 'the burial place of Rhiw kings'; it is a mere several kilometres from Mynydd Rhiw *neolithic axe factory*, so it is surprising there are not more stone age monuments hard by - perhaps there are, or were? also, local place names seem to abound with deer names, into which could be read much, perhaps -
there also appears to be an ancient well or spring nearby, known as 'ffynnon fair' -
Worth peeking inside the church to see how much more attractive such contained worship would be were the roof removed. Not sure whether this is a result of design or decay, but was reminded of this passage from TMA:
"the roofing of the temple, which, it was claimed, allowed the worshipper more time for quiet contemplation, was the final christian cap, removing forever the relationship of the worshippers with their sensual landscape, their rain and their skies."
Not so here. Would be nice to think that with the stone and the unroofed chapel, this is a real example of pagan values surviving within 'keltic christianity' right up to the present day....
This is a magnificent site. Not marked on any OS map I have seen. Travelling North towards the B4417 from the village of Sarn Meyllteyrn, look out for the gate on your right hand side (there is room to park).
Came across this lonely stone while tripping around the Lleyn. Had just visited Coetan Arthur and almost missed this stone. By chance I peered through a locked gate around the chapel graveyard and there it stood, arrogantly erect and defiantly posed next to the path from the gate as a poignant reminder to the christian flock. The holes near the top seem to stare in cyclopean ire as it towers in all its pagan beauty like a lynchpin arresting the flow of time . The chapel almost seems to sit apologetically in its shadow.
A wonderful and evocative 'lith, well worth searching out!
Bill
If you're on the Lleyn, looking at the burial chambers there, search for this standing stone. It's in the graveyard of a (ruined) chapel and is over 2m high. It stands by the side of the path to the chapel and looks like a megalithic interloper, disguising its Pagan past amongst the gravestones.