Eliseg’s Pillar mound

Nearest town:
Llangollen (3km ESE)
OS reference:
SJ20264452
OS sheet:
117
Latitude:
52° 59' 30.05 N
Longitude:
3° 11' 17.17 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Eliseg’s Pillar mound (Round Barrow(s)) by postman

The lighter green grass of the excavation in 2010

Image credit: Chris Bickerton
postman
postman May 7, 2012
Image of Eliseg’s Pillar mound (Round Barrow(s)) by JohnAko

The Eliseg Pillar dig on 31 July’10. Nobody around when I got there to provide an insight into anything new discovered. Stone cairn with kerbstones(?) visible.

Image credit: JohnAko 31.7.10
J
JohnAko Aug 8, 2010

Articles

Eliseg’s Pillar mound

Bronze Age finds at Llangollen’s Pillar of Eliseg.

The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 28, 2011

Remains dating back to the Bronze Age have been uncovered by archaeologists excavating the site of a 9th Century monument.

The finds were made during the latest dig at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire.

Possible cremated remains and bone fragments are now being examined.

The experts said the finds had complicated the picture regarding the site’s historical significance and make it worthy of more investigation.

Bangor and Chester university experts and students have been involved in a dig with historical monuments agency Cadw to conserve and better understand the mound.

They gave updates, and shared photographs and films via Llangollen Museum’s Facebook page during the dig.

Last year’s excavations focused on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn.

It is said the local landowner Trevor Lloyd re-erected the monument on the mound in 1773 after it fell over and found a grave with a body inside along with pieces of silver.

The experts have been trying to find if there any truth to the story which some think is legend.

Prof Nancy Edwards from Bangor University said to establish any truth in the story they had to clear away debris left by Lloyd more than 200 years ago.

“We have been digging that out to reveal what we think are the Bronze Age remains underneath,” she said.

“We have had what we think is an early medieval long cist grave so it is looking even more complicated now and also what may be evidence of Bronze Age cremations.”

The Pillar of Eliseg was originally a tall stone cross but only part of a round shaft survives set within its original base.

It once bore a long Latin inscription saying that the cross was raised by Concenn, ruler of the kingdom of Powys, who died in AD 854, in memory of his great-grandfather, Eliseg, who had driven Anglo-Saxon invaders out of the area.

An update on the latest finds will be published in the near future.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-15007707

Eliseg’s Pillar mound

Pillar of Eliseg: Archaeologists dig beneath 9th Century monument

The Eternal
The Eternal Jul 3, 2010

Archaeologists are to start excavations on a suspected ancient burial site to try to understand the significance of a Llangollen landmark.

But the team will have to work carefully because the 9th Century Pillar of Eliseg, a CADW-protected ancient monument, stands directly on top of the barrow – burial mound – and the archaeologists can’t disturb it.

Medieval archaeology Professor, Nancy Edwards, from Bangor University says it is the first time the site has been dug since 1773 when, it is believed, a skeleton was unearthed.

“We are trying to date the barrow in its broader archaeological context,” she said, as the site could date back to the Bronze Age.

The history behind the monument and why it was erected on the mound in the late 1700s by Trevor Lloyd of Trevor Hall, who then owned the land, is not yet understood.

The earliest known picture of the pillar, dated 1797, courtesy Llangollen Museum

However, separate work has been carried out to try to decipher original and additional faded inscriptions by experts from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW).
Originally a cross, it was first erected at nearby Valle Crucis Abbey to commemorate an early medieval leader, Eliseg (or Elisedd).
Today, only the shaft of the cross remains and its inscription, which was already almost illegible when the antiquary Edward Lhuyd tried to transcribe it in 1696, has disappeared.

Some of the 18th Century inscription describing the re-erection of the cross on the barrow has since been discerned by the experts, but nothing that reveals why it was relocated.

Joining Prof Edwards on-site for the dig will be colleagues from the University of Chester and with help from Llangollen Museum.
The plan is to open one small trench within the barrow and three others in close proximity within the field which is owned by a private landowner.

Dai Morgan Evans, visiting professor in archaeology at Chester University, has his own ideas as to why the monument was relocated to the mound.

Abbey and the Holy Grail legends
He told the Leader newspaper that Trevor Lloyd could have been implying he was related to the Welsh king named on the inscription and those in the burial below.

During the dig, David Crane from Llangollen Museum plans to blog regularly via the museum website to give people updates.

And the public will be allowed on-site during an open day (31 July), between 11am-3pm.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8783000/8783331.stm

Eliseg’s Pillar mound

J
JohnAko Aug 8, 2010

I visited the dig at Eliseg’s Pillar late on Saturday 31 July but did not get to speak to anyone at length about their findings. Anyway I guess it may have been too early to say with any certainty whether any finds have thrown new light on the site or provided any new dating evidence. However even to my very amateur eyes a stone cairn was clearly visible with what looked like kerbstones placed around the foot of the mound. I look forward to the official report.

NB: as others have already said parking is difficult but I used the pub carpark just 200yds away. This site is local to me and only a 20mile drive, but is well worth a visit if you take it in with a few of the other sites in the area.

Eliseg’s Pillar mound

C
CARL May 20, 2010

I vivited this site last year as part of my on-going attempt to visit every CADW site. The mound is just up the road from Valle Crucis Abbey (another CADW site) and can actually be seen from the Abbey. The mound is quite small but in a flat field with a cross on top – so easy to spot.
Probably best to park at the abbey and walk back down the road to the mound as parking is not easy and the road is very busy.

Eliseg’s Pillar mound

postman
postman Jan 6, 2010

After my aborted attempt on Moel y Gamelin I continued down the horseshoe pass, I almost had to stop off at Elisegs pillar.
The pillar is not ancient as is probably obvious if you wish to know more look here coflein.gov.uk/en/site/165274/details/ELISEG%27S+PILLAR%2C+CROSS+AND+BURIAL+MOUND%2C+NEAR+LLANGOLLEN/ , but coflein also says the cross was erected on a bronze age burial mound, and indeed there are a number of large barrows in the immediate area, good enough for me.
Hellish roads apart the morning was beautiful, sharp clean air seared the grime of town life away, the whole valley was crisp and white and adventure was in the air.

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