Maen Ceti

The famous Druidical Monument, called Arthur's Stone, mentioned by Camden, is in this Parish, and is situate on the North side of Cefn y Brynn: it is supported by six rough Pillars; there are four other Pillars standing alone, which supported a part of the Stone, now broken off, by what means, unknown, though it is said that it was broken off for the purpose of making Mill-stones, but was afterwards found unfit for the intention: several smaller pieces have from time to time been broken off, chiefly through mere wickedness, so that it is much decreased in size; it is supposed to weigh now about Twenty Tons, and to have been brought from a distance, as it is of a different quality to the Stone found upon the Hill: underneath it is a Spring of water, seldom dry. A great quantity of loose stones, thrown there by the Country people, served to hide some part of the Pillars, but were cleared away at the expense of Mr. Lucas.

On the summit of Cevn Bryn is a large cromlech, called Arthur's Stone, a vestige of Druidical antiquity, which Camden and other writers describe as being composed of a different species of stone from any found in this part of the country : this, however, appears to be erroneous, as it is the common pudding-stone, or millstone grit, of the country; and, within the recollection of persons still living, a huge fragment, which had been broken off with great labour, by means of wedges, and intended for a millstone, was found totally unfit for that purpose, from the cavities left in the surface by the falling out of the pebbles of which it consisted. The principal, or covering stone, is eleven feet in length and six feet and a half in its greatest breadth : it rests on twelve supporters, for fixing which the earth appears to have been excavated, and by the side of the cromlech lies the mass above noticed. A supposed miraculous well beneath this monument, which was said to ebb and flow with the sea, appears to be nothing more than a collection of water, after heavy rains, in the cavity formed for the insertion of the supporters, which fluctuates according to the weather, and which, as attested by intelligent persons residing near the spot, is frequently dry in hot summers. This cromlech is supposed to be alluded to in the historical triads of Wales, as one of the three Herculean labours. There are several mineral springs in the parish, to which medicinal properties are ascribed : of these, the most celebrated is Holy Well, on Cevn y Bryn mountain, to which, in former times, miraculous efficacy was attributed : it was generally frequented on Sunday evenings during the summer season by numbers of persons, who drank the water, and, according to an ancient custom, threw in a pin as a tribute of their gratitude.