Crugian Bach Stone Circle View all content for Crugian Bach

I don't get out as often as I used to, for a variety of reasons, so if I do get the chance it has to be somewhere high on the list, the list has by necessity and my endeavors gotten smaller, the Elan valley is one such place high on my list. I've been near here before seeing stone rows and standing stones, but thanks to Gladman a burial chamber and a stone circle had been brought to my attention. But really just a quick look at a good map shows that there's all sorts of something interesting on just about every hill top. The pretty hills and valleys are a much needed bonus, juxtaposing nicely with the flat concrete of home. I parked the car as out of the way as possible at SN932633, the top of a farm lane just through a gate by the turn off for the Clyn farmhouse. The stone circle is almost exactly half a mile away south. The walk starts off with many delays, by way of fallen standing stones and cairns and a cist, some delays are worth putting up with. Then it's fairly plain sailing through the grasses, mires and bogs until you get out into the middle of this particular no where. There isn't much around to get ones bearings by, so I wasn't at all surprised to find that the stone circle was proving elusive, exasperated by the stones lack of height. I could tell I was getting closer when I came across what I presumed were two fallen stones, they looked more like it than the coflein certified fallen pair further north. From these I could see a stone sticking up so I made for that, it was one of those confounding boundary stones, but from that I could see another stone sticking up so I made for that. Tadaa, restlessly wandering about swearing quietly to oneself payed off again, stone circle. I just cant get into the mind of the prehistoric Welsh, why are the stones so low, big hills, big views, big barren wasteland moors, equals little stones does it? Did they come up with a magical reason for smaller stones, or were they just lazy, was the stone circle fad losing it's power by the time it got here, yes they needed a stone circle, for what ever reasons, but great big super heavy stones, apparently not. Is it wrong of me to want a Callanish everywhere, surely part of the draw of standing stones is, how did they do it? that question doesn't come up here. I don't know, I just wish they'd tried a bit harder. Despite my sizeist reaction to the stones I still liked it here, this is after all a stone circle, over three thousand years old, when three thousand years you reach look so good you will not. The central stone is intriguing, I think it is exactly that, once standing in the middle, what are they for, some kind of scientific or magical reason or just another trend in stone circle building? The edge of the circle nearest to cairn topped Y Gamriw has the tallest bulkiest stones, the stones on the other side are barely above grass height. It's quite satisfying pulling moss and grasses from these lowest stones, bringing them back into the light, it's usually best to be above ground, Ive found anyway.

Posted by postman 30th April 2017ce

Comments (1)
I buy into the reason for hill/mountain top cairns, they're very special, mysterious, ethereal places even for us modern folk, if not more so, who wouldn't want to be interred up there. But, Welsh upland circles are mostly late in the sequence, aren't they? I can easily see people knowing they must have a stone circle, it's the done thing, clearly, perhaps they reckoned a stone circle is a stone circle no matter what size the stones.	Posted by postman 1st May 2017ce
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