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Dinas Dinorwig

Hillfort

<b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postmanImage © Chris Bickerton
Nearest Town:Caernarfon (7km WSW)
OS Ref (GB):   SH54966531 / Sheets: 114, 115
Latitude:53° 9' 53.1" N
Longitude:   4° 10' 11.42" W

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<b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by juamei <b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postman <b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postman <b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postman <b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postman <b>Dinas Dinorwig</b>Posted by postman

Fieldnotes

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I parked at the bottom of the hill on the north-west side of the fort, and walked back round and up the road till I came to the driveway of the nice house that somehow ended up inside a two thousand year old hillfort.
I asked permission from the very nice lady at the house and she pointed out the path that goes round the site, neatly cut grass defines the path that follows the ditch between the highest and the middle bank.
There are three banks to the fort, the tops of them are covered in bracken and thorny gorse, the only way to appreciate any of the place is by following the path or by flying over in something that flies. Only a minor backdoor did I find in the wooded section, which covers about a quater of the fort, I think maybe the original grand entrance was where the house is now.
There was a big stone lying in the centre of the hillfort but it had been half buried and moss was trying to cover the rest, there was also a lot of big stones in the wooded section with holes drilled in them.
Brilliant views over to Llamberis pass and Snowdon, but the hillfort needs a good de-vegatising.
postman Posted by postman
26th September 2009ce

Miscellaneous

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DINAS DINORWIG ROCKING-STONE.
To the Editor of the Arch. Camb.

SIR,-- In the summer of 1863 I happened to be in the neighbourhood of Dinas Dinorwig, and, falling into conversation with one of the inhabitants, I was informed of a rocking-stone which stood a few score yards to the south-west of the camp. This stone I afterwards visited and found it to be a large boulder balanced upon a level rock, differing in no respect from the numerous blocks with which Carnarvonshire is studded, except in its massiveness and rocking quality. After several unsuccessful trials, with the assistance of a friend I succeeded in slightly moving the stone; but I was told that the children about could easily set it in motion. The truth of this information I could not test. Being lately in the same neighbourhood, I went out of my way to see the stone; but it had disappeared. Upon inquiry I ascertained that it had been blasted, and used in building cottages which stand within a stone's throw of the site of the logan. It is a pity that this stone has been destroyed; for, whether mechanically poised, or left in its position by a melting glacier, it was not void of interest.

Dr. A. Wynn Williams, in his pamphlet on Arthur's Well, thus alludes to the rocking-stone: "At the foot of the Dinas, on the western side, in a field called 'Cae Go'uchaf' (or the highest blacksmith's field), on Glasgoed Farm, near the Groeslon, or crossing, close to the road, are some old ruins, probably Druidical. Amongst them is a very large rocking-stone. The circumference of the stone measures in length 24 feet; in width, 16 feet. It might weigh from ten to fifteen tons. A child of seven or eight years of age can move it with ease. I am not aware that this remarkable stone has ever been noticed in any antiquarian work; which is rather curious, as these things are not common in this neighbourhood or country."
Yours respectfully, E.O.
From 'Archaeologia Cambrensis v13 (October 1867).
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
18th July 2012ce