Lligwy

Also known as:
Arthur's Quoit and Coetan Arthur
Nearest town:
Amlwch (9km WNW)
OS reference:
SH501861
OS sheet:
114
Latitude:
53° 21' 0.56 N
Longitude:
4° 15' 8.2 W

Images

Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by thesweetcheat

You can see a line of marks where someone intended to split the capstone.

Image credit: A. Brookes (21.7.2017)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jul 24, 2017
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by thesweetcheat

Bone pin from Lligwy on display in the National Museum of Wales.

Image credit: A. Brookes (10.11.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Nov 13, 2011
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by Rhiannon

From the Rev. John Skinner’s ‘Ten Days’ Tour through the Isle of Anglesey’ (1804).

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 6, 2011
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by skins

An attempted combined photo of the huge capstone.

Image credit: skins
skins
skins Jun 24, 2008
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by fitzcoraldo

A woodcut from
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries, Their Ages and Uses
By James Fergusson
Pub 1872

fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Oct 26, 2007
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

This is the way into the chamber.You’ve got to be quite small.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

I crawled in as far as I could, didn’t expect a bed.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

The cap stone is to use a modernism “awesome”.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006
Image of Lligwy (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by Moth

Not quite like any other I’ve seen....

Image credit: Tim Clark
Moth
Moth Aug 30, 2003

Articles

Lligwy

C
CARL Sep 24, 2012

Visited 10.9.12

Best place to park is the parking area for the Din Lligwy Hut Group and then take a short walk south down the country lane.

This is an excellent site to visit and the capstone is indeed enormous!
I would estimate it to be 3m x 3m x 1m thick.

Although initially a little afraid; Sophie soon got the hang of things and was wandering about inside the chamber.
He had a quick game of ‘peek-a-boo’ through the supporting upright stones.

This is an excellent tomb to visit which is easy to access.
A ‘must see’ when visiting Anglesey.

Lligwy

faerygirl
faerygirl Jan 17, 2010

This thing really is a monster capstone! I always hapily clamber insider then have a little panic attack at the weight of the stone above my head (perfect image of me being squashed like a bug).

Not for the claustrophobic!

Lligwy

postman
postman Jan 20, 2009

The first time I came here my now almost seven year old son was just a few months
old, so seeing as the winter solstice sun wasnt going to show up anywhere near me today
this was as good as ever a time to reaquaint ourselves. Its dead easy to find so no directions
are needed.
I didnt remember it being this big, its really huge. The chamber is nearly half dug into the ground
and the whopping great capstone rests on about half a dozen stones but another half a dozen are just for
show it seems.
Inside are two stones that particularly stick out, one is the long flat bed like stone or outcrop and the
left entrance stone, they both have vertical runnels from when they were exposed to the weather and
both are attractively rubbed smooth. A really cool place to be after a long bout of sunshine but an
otherwise damp place elsetime.

Lligwy

skins
skins Jan 24, 2008

Great place to visit, well maintained, the capstone is an incredible size and tonnage – new info boards here guessing how they did it. Just down the lane from llugwy is the ancient iron age village (4th century settlement), follow the road up and it’s on the left, follow the field across past the ruin of a 13c church.

Lligwy

hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006

What a wonderful place and easy to find. I take my hat off to the builders,the way the capstone is balanced is quite amazing.

Lligwy

treaclechops
treaclechops Sep 3, 2006

Did I say Pant y Saer was a stunna? Well, this is a stunna with knobs on! Lligwy has the most incredible capstone, a huge rectangle of rock, easily a yard thick all the way round. Interestingly, deep grooves are to be found on all sides of this cumbersome capstone, and I read on the information board a suggestion that they were caused by ropes rubbing into the stone as it was transported to the site. Can’t see it myself; why don’t other structures have such obvious grooves? It looked more like eroded drilling lines to me, if it were anything manmade.

This really is awesome. A large dug out chamber under the capstone held the remains of 30 people, and even has a reasonable shelf on which to lay a body. Only after squeezing through the constricting entrance way, grubbing around in the chamber for a while, and sitting on the (not uncomfortable) shelf chatting to a lady on the outside, did I later discover the 25 tonne capstone is only held up on three of the eight uprights. Gulp.

Once again, the prehistoric understanding of rock and engineering never ceases to amaze. . . .

I didn’t see one earwig.

Lligwy

Jane
Jane Aug 31, 2006

Jane’s Law of Dolmen Visiting states: “Thou shalt make every effort to enter the chamber and grub about in it”. Lligwy is especially good for this although at first glance you wonder how the hell you’re going to get in. The entrance is small and requires a hands and knees approach. But once beneath the gigantic capstone weighing 25 tons it feels light and spacious as if it’s hovering above. It’s not. It’s held aloft by lots of uprights and once you’re in, the ground sinks down below you. There’s even a comfy megalithic bunk to lie down on to avoid the mud. We loved it despite being caged in by yet another set of ugly, pointy railings.

Lligwy

E
elderford Sep 28, 2002

114 501861
Straight forward to find, cast iron Ancient Monument sign on road next to kissing gate. The capstone is visible from the road beyond a gap in the hedge.
We visited this summer and the gate to those spiked railings was open, so thankfully no vaulting was required.

Lligwy

IronMan
IronMan Apr 29, 2002

A cumbersome, partly subterranean site. From the outside the huge bulky capstone appears to have pushed it’s low kerbstones down into the ground – this isn’t the case as the interior is hollowed out. To gain entrance to the sites chamber requires a vault over the fence – be warned it has large, sharp spikes and the glossy green paint can be quite slippery!

Lligwy

S
Slim Oct 16, 2000

I visited this site in August with my daughter who is 7, and my niece and nephew ( 6 year old twins ). Din Lligwy is the remains of a village, and consists of several round huts, and a border wall which is over a metre thick. The site inspires imagination, and the children asked what the people were trying to keep out with such large walls. The “Chieftan’s” hut is clearly identifiable. Further along is the remains od a burial chamber – we sheltered under the huge cap-stone as the rain drove down outside. The silence was total and evocative. I have visited many of the sites in Anglesey and North Wales as a child, but unfortunately I have forgotten the name of most of them.

Folklore

Lligwy
Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Sep 22, 2005

A strange mix of symbolism in this story.

Arthur’s Quoit, at Lligwy, near Moelfre, in Anglesea, is one of the stones of a cromlech once very important, and to it curious stories were formerly attached. A fisherman going down to the sea was overtaken by a storm, and halted to shelter beside Arthur’s Quoit. When the rain was over, he looked towards the sea, and felt sure that somebody was struggling in the water. He hastened to the shore, and then discovered that a woman with very long dark hair was endeavouring to swim to land; but the ground swell was very strong, and each attempt proved unavailing.

The fisherman, fearless of the sea*, sprang in, and bore the swimmer to the shore, only just to escape a dangerous roller. The man observed that the woman was beautifully robed in white, and had jewelled bracelets on her arms. After squeezing the water out of her garments, she asked him to assist her to the “huge stone”, meaning Arthur’s Quoit. He did so, and while she sat to rest against the stone he noticed she was very beautiful and youthful. The man was about to ask her how she came to be in such peril, but she anticipated his question with a harsh voice, by no means in keeping with her beauty.

“Ha ha!” she cried. “If I had been swimming in my usual raiment, you would have allowed me to sink. I am a witch, and was thrown off a ship in Lligwy Bay; but I disguised myself, and was rescued.”

The man shrank back in terror, fearing the woman would bewitch him. “Don’t be frightened,” said the witch; “one good turn deserves another. Here, take this.” In the palm of her hand she held a small ball. “It is for you,” she said, “and as long as you keep it concealed in a secret place where nobody can find it, good luck will be yours. Once a year you must take it out of hiding and dip it in the sea, then safely return it to its place of concealment. But remember, if it is lost, misfortune will follow.”

The fisherman took the ball and thanked the witch, who gravely said: “That ball contains a snake-skin.” Then she vanished mysteriously. But an hour later he saw her leaping from rock to rock in Lligwy Bay, where a boat was waiting for her, and in it she sailed away. Returning to Arthur’s Quoit, the fisherman thought he could do no better than conceal the ball in a deep hole which he dug close beside the great stone which was reputed to be haunted, and accordingly avoided. He did this, and once a year he took it from concealment and dipped it in the sea. The ball was carefully preserved, and the family had remarkable runs of luck. But one evening when the fisherman went to look for the ball, it was nowhere to be found. He searched for many days, but without avail, and at last gave up his search as hopeless. Somebody evidently discovered his secret, and had stolen the precious ball.

Several years passed, during which time misfortune pursued the fisherman. At the end of that period a dying neighbour confessed to the theft of the ball, and restored it to its lawful owner. Good luck was at once restored to the family. When the fisherman died, he bequeathed it to his eldest son, who carefully preserved it. In the first half of the nineteenth century the fisherman’s eldest son, accompanied by his only brother, started for Australia, where they eventually made large fortunes. A descendant in the female line of the old fisherman considered the ball one of her most precious treasures, and carefully preserved it in her far-away home in India. It was last heard of about forty years ago.

From Marie Trevelyan’s “Folk lore and Folk Stories of Wales” (1909).

*surely not something a fisherman would be. In fact, many could not swim??

Miscellaneous

Lligwy
Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jan 16, 2006

Apparently Lligwy is actually built over a natural fissure in the limestone, rather than being dug out. Aubrey Burl (in ‘Rites of the Gods’) lists the layers (from top to bottom) that were excavated inside:
> red clay and limpet shells
>black earth containing pottery sherds and human, ox, sheep, pig, deer, fox, fowl, dog, and otter bones
>paving of flat stones
>black earth and human bones
>scattered mussel shells

Sites within 20km of Lligwy

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