Holy cow, it’s Holy Island
Holy Island off the west coast of Anglesey is dominated by two things: a bloody great mountain and a bloody great aluminum smelting plant. One of these two things, and quite often both, is visible from most places on the island. So it’s easy to orientate yourself from site to site and get a real feel for the place.
Just across the new, fast main road from the aluminium smelting plant is this nicely restored chambered cairn. Lots to see here: from a distance and due to the slatey material it’s made of, it reminded me very strongly of a French allee couverte. I liked the juxtaposition of the industrial plant so close and the new road. Despite the continual urban and industrial growth, this thing survives – and rather well.
While you’re here, look out for Ty Mawr just up the lane. It’s a biggun!
Blimey Batman! We liked these! Tall, elegant and graceful, this pair of megalithic goalposts stand long after the game is forgotten. Having only just returned from Aberdeendshire, I couldn’t help thinking how much like flankers these were, without the recumbent. It’s hard to be here and not try to bridge the gap between the stones. What went on in the sacred space?
I’ve seen a few hut circles in my time, but these are the most perfect I have yet seen. They may only be a series of small walls, but what small walls! Today up to 20 of them nestle among tall bracken and heather strung along the hillside which is bright purple. All beautifully restored, it’s not hard to imagine them with their conical wood and thatch roofs and all the activity of domestic life... smell that roasting pork and those frying guillemot eggs!
Park in the RSPB South Stack car park. And while you’re here why not teeter along those cliff tops? We saw gannets and choughs!
Photo of an aerial shot on an information board.
Purple hillsides at the hut circles:
Choughs doing aerobatics. Amazing stuff!
