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In this video, we explore the archaeology of Sweyne’s Howes, as well as the Viking legends associated with the site.

A video in which we explore the history, archaeology and legends of Foel Drygarn.. We happened to catch it on a beautiful snowy day for this video!

A small direct-action of stillness – twelve reflective months filming in a field with my phone.
Writer/Director
Chris Morris

Sometimes, one can’t see the stones for the grass. Or something like that.

A differing tale of two monuments to Bronze Age VIPs...

Another example of Gallaecian / Atlantic rock art neglected, forgotten and left to its own devices in the wild.

Note the couple of crosses added to the prehistoric panel in the Middle Ages or later (engravings made with metal tools are deeper and lighter than the ancient designs) in a clear attempt to Christianise and keep the heathen, demonic, paganistic forces of the countryside under control. After all, the priests arrived from outside and for centuries, never found it easy to reach every hidden corner of the country, safely protected by mountains and peopled by famously gruff and reclusive folks.

“Wade bridge deliuereth you into waste ground, where 9 long and great stones called The sisters stand in a ranke together, and seem to have been so pitched, for continuing the memory of somewhat, whose notice is yet enuied vs by time.”
Richard Carew’s Survey of Cornwall 1605

Film by Matthew Shaw

Took a while to get to this one since the distant view from Gyrn Ddu suggested not much original walling was left. Wrong! Bit windy, though....

In this video we explore the archaeology of Pentre Ifan, as well as delving into the legends associated with the site.

In this video we explore the history and archaeology of this wonderful site

Never heard of it? Neither had I...

Boscawen-ûn; Cornish name derived from bod, “dwelling or farmstead” and scawen, “elder tree”. The suffix –un comes from goon, “downland or unenclosed pasture”.

“Folklore has it that Boscawen-ûn is a circle created by maidens dancing on the Sabbath being turned to stone. Whilst this story is attractive, perhaps more credible is the possibility of Boscawen-ûn being one of the three Gorsedds, or Druid Meeting Places, of Britain. The Welsh Triads which date back to around the 6th Century AD record “Boskawen of Dumnonia” as being one of the “Gorsedds of Poetry of the Island of Britain”. Certainly the circle is still an important spiritual meeting place for local Pagan groups and ritual offerings are still placed here.”
Historic-Cornwall

Film by Matthew Shaw

Legend has it that the menhir stands on the spot where five ancient parish boundaries met. The stone takes its name from a gallows tree which once stood next to it.

Film by Matthew Shaw

The surprisingly powerful little hillfort approached from Tal-y-Fan..

Northernmost 2,000ft summit of Y Carneddau... and all round Prehistoric Mother Hill for good measure.

“I followed, and found myself in the famous subterranean passage known as Chapel Uny Cave, walled and roofed with flat stones of granite. It is thirty-five feet long, and leads to a circular domed chamber twelve feet in diameter, now open to the sky.

I remarked upon the size of the slabs of granite that form the roof, and asked the farmer how these heavy weights, that a football team could hardly lift, were placed in position.

“The giants put them there,” he answered. I pricked my ears. Was I, on my last day, to stand face to face with a man who believed in the giants? Alas no! He did not refer to the fabulous Bolster, nor to the giants of Trencrom and St. Michael’s Mount, who played at bob-button, but to mortals, Cornishmen of vast strength and stature, like Anthony Payne, who seem at one time to have been common in Cornwall.

He spoke of John and Richard Row, brothers, who could lift enormous stones with the greatest ease. Once the wheel of a heavily laden waggon came off. John raised the waggon with his mighty shoulder, while Richard replaced the wheel.”
From ‘Days in Cornwall’ by Charles Hind (1909).

Film by Matthew Shaw

“This menhir or prehistoric longstone, which was originally about 16 feet high, was known as Men Gurta. It is now called St Breock Longstone. Weighing about 16.5 tons it is still the heaviest standing stone in Cornwall.

The word menhir is a combination of two words found in the Breton language; men (stone), and hir (long).” Cornwall Heritage Trust

Film by Matthew Shaw

The prehistoric footprint evident in the locale of the Mid Walian market town of Rhayader is much, much more extensive than many people perhaps realise. This horseshoe walk visits three of the arguably more obscure monuments.

“Anne, the daughter John Pollard, of this parish [St. Columb], and Loveday, the daughter of Thomas Rosebere, of the parish of Enoder, were buried on the 23rd day of June, 1671, who were both barbarously murdered the day before in the house of Capt’n Peter Pollard on the bridge, by one John the son of Humphrey and Cicely Trehembern, of this parish, about 11 of the clock in the forenoon upon a market day.”

The following tradition is given in connection with the above:= “A bloodhound was obtained and set upon the trail, which it followed up a narrow lane, to the east of the union-house, named Tremen’s-lane; at the head, the hound made in an oblique direction towards the town, and in a narrow alley, known as Wreford’s-row, it came upon the murderer in his father’s house, and licked his boots, which were covered in blood.”

The sentence on Tremen was “that he be confined in an iron cage on the Castle Downs, 2 miles from St. Columb, and starved to death.” While in confinement he was visited by a country woman on her way home from market. The prisoner begged earnestly for something to eat; the woman informed him that she had nothing in the shape of food but a pound of candles; this being given him, he ate them in a ravenous manner. It’s a saying here, in reference to a scapegrace, that he is a regular Tremen.

Richard Cornish. St. Columb.
From v1 of the Western Antiquary (June 1881).

Film by Matthew Shaw

Generally referred to as unusual, rare or unique to Wales... it seems there may be more monuments like Bedd Yr Afanc, simply hiding in plain sight on the hillside.

Join us for stunning views captured by drone, tips on how to get there, summary of excavations, classifications and possible connections to other local sites... and plenty of folklore, with two versions of a traditional tale told hundreds of years apart.

Easily overlooked in the company of the great Carn Saith-wraith... but then... we Modern Antiquarians never take the easy option, right?

Arriving at a prehistoric rock art site is like trying to have a conversation with the ancients. You will not understand a word, but the sound of the words is entirely musical and adapted to the land and the landscape.

Here I am at one of the most stunning panels in Gallaecian / Atlantic rock art in the mountainous lands of Cotobade on a ledge overlooking the sacred meander of the mighty River Lerez.

This country is extremely windy and rainy, so being able to catch them blessed rock art panels in the right light is quite rare, but it also adds to the sense of excitement and the urgency of living life to the max.

The location, overlooking the great, sinuous defile of Cwm Doethie, is superb, with surviving archaeology to match. Yeah, not only is the massive ‘composite ring cairn/round platform cairn’ some 70ft in diameter, it also has a pretty large neighbour to the southeast… all accessible from a stony track.

“The common people call it Hell stone, and have a tradition that the devil flung it from Portland Pike, a north point of that island full in view, as he was diverting himself at quoits.” History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset by Rev. John Hutchins (1803)

Film and music by Matthew Shaw