Visited 28th March 2004: After spending some time at Raglan Castle we headed east to the village of Trellech to see Harold’s Stones. We parked to the south west where a track leads west off the B4293, and walked up the roadside to the stones (spotting a mole on the way).
The stones themselves are excellent great things (certainly reminiscent of something rude Jane). Very photogenic, but most of the photos I took are the same as those already posted. Not as atmospheric as I’d anticipated though.
I’d have thought that the name ‘Trellech’ would mean ‘three stones’ rather than ‘Settlement of the Stones’. The word tre means three and llech means stones (it’s that simple).
Sorry - nothing is ever as simple as we hope it to be. 'Tre' is a very common element of Welsh placenames, and invariably refers to 'tref', meaning 'town'. Consult the index of any road atlas, and you will find countless examples, in many of which the meaning is clear - Treherbert, Trecastell (only one castle here !) Tretower (likewise), etc, etc. The Welsh word for 'three' is 'tri'. This also occurs in placenames, though is much rarer - eg. Abertridwr (confluence of 3 waters, 2 examples in different parts of Wales). To be certain of the meaning I suggest you research very early references to Trellech, and you might find either the 'f' to confirm 'tref', or 'i' to confirm 'tri'. For example early maps show Bristol as 'Brigstow', which reveals its original Anglo-Saxon meaning.