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
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
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
A film by Matthew Shaw featuring Men Gurta, Boscawen-Un, Dry Tree Menhir, Castle an Dinas, Carn Euny & The Nine Maidens.
Let’s hear it for those magnificent archaeologists in their LiDAR-equipped flying machines…
GWREIDDIAU / ROOTS was the 10th year anniversary of the Bryn Celli Ddu landscape project, based at the internationally important 5,000 year old passage tomb, Ynys Môn.
Think Creatively worked in collaboration with Cadw, Manchester Metropolitan University, GeoMôn, Galeri Caernarfon, Oriel Môn, Stone Club, Anglesey Druid Order, Rhys Mwyn and supported Welsh artists to deliver a series of workshops, walks, talks and excavations.
Matthew Shaw of Stone Club hosted the Q&A and created the soundscape capturing the voices of visitors experiences of the site to the backdrop of the fantastic film footage captured by Adam Stanford.
In this video we cover the history and archaeology of Ysbyty Cynfyn. Why is this church built within a so-called ‘druidical circle’?
One may have ‘heard about the bird’... but what of these two beauties only (re)discovered in 2015? No, really.
“A-well-a everybody’s heard about the bird”....
I think you will like this video by Allotment Fox, a softly spoken man who finds and reads passages from Saxon charters and then walks the landscape in search of the features they use to outline the boundaries of areas of land. Here he’s discovered mention of Yarnbury, which he thinks must mean the ‘yearning’ or ‘yonder’ fort. There are nice aerial shots of the fort and images of the local wildlife.
In this video we explore Ystum Cegid Isaf and cover the history and archaeology of the site. We hope you enjoy!
I visited Nine Ladies of Stanton Moor shortly after the artist had been filming there. I was intrigued to see the results...
Where Saints did not fear to tread. Apparently…
Stomping around in hill fog upon the Carneddau looking for ring cairns.... it’s always a good idea to fix one’s position when taking a bearing. Hey, a stone circle. That’ll do.
In this video we explore Bryn Cader Faner and cover the history and archaeology of this iconic site.
In this video we delve into the great Stonehenge Bluestone debate… questioning what we know about how a varied collection of ‘bluestones’ made their way from the Preseli Hills to the Salisbury Plain.
We start with a brief history of the last 400 years at Stonehenge.. Exploring research by antiquarians, archaeologists and geologists… demonstrating how professional and public opinion has changed over time and sharing our own journey through the last three decades of media coverage. Over the last decade, the topic has been dominated by claims made by Professor Mike Parker Pearson, involving ‘Bluestone quarries’ at Craig Rhos Y Felin and Carn Goedog, and a huge stone circle at Waun Mawn… Claims that were reported as fact by a wide range of media outlets, predominantly during the 2021 BBC documentary “Stonehenge – The Lost Circle Revealed”.
Because of the massive impact this BBC documentary had on public opinion… we felt we couldn’t properly address this topic without properly addressing the way in which evidence was interpreted throughout the documentary… Showing examples from the show, we explore the other legitimate interpretations available and tentatively offer our own conclusions.
Please feel free to comment your thoughts on the topic. Also a massive thanks to everyone who has been getting involved here and on Youtube.. Your feedback is invaluable and we’ve learned so much from you all. Lets keep on bothering those stones!
Diolch yn fawr. Thanks!