Garn Turne

Garn Turne has always felt to us like Pentre Ifan’s evil twin. There are a few similarities between the two sites – the multiphase construction that seemed to begin with a sacred stone dug out of a pit, the later addition of a forecourt, the evidence of burning in and around the capstone – but also some significant divergences that give Garn Turne a very different atmosphere.
Whereas Pentre Ifan seems light, airy, almost untethered, Garn Turne seems earthbound, dark and menacing. The sheer weight obviously present in the capstone and it’s accompanying megaliths is part of it. But there has always seemed to us a kind of haunting nastiness about it, as if the ghosts that linger there died in pain or unwillingly. Could be just us though...
Anyway, unlike Pentre Ifan which feels tidy and well on the beaten track, this site is rough and ready. It’s in a large scraggy field with blackthorny bits, some beautiful wind whipped old hawthorns and a gorsedd festooned with well, gorse. You may be unlucky and find cows in it or sometimes sheep.
The whole site is interesting, as it really seems that the natural features that were important to the monument builders are still intact. The aforementioned rock outcrop dominates the site and the immediate landscape around, and gives off a power all of it’s own. As mentioned by others (e.g. Children and Nash) there is a spring adjoining the outcrop and directly west uphill from the monument. The spring is surrounded by rocks that almost look placed there in a circular fashion. You can climb the outcrop quite easily and it’s a great spot to chill out in nice weather.
Tonight though, Garn Turne was it’s usual cold and doomy self in the mist, so we took a few pictures, had a dram and were off. Will return in the sun so tbc