Samson’s Stone

Also known as:
Ty-Du, Ty'n y selar and Ty'n-y-Cellar
Nearest town:
Porthcawl (8km SSE)
OS reference:
SS802838
OS sheet:
170
Latitude:
51° 32' 23.42 N
Longitude:
3° 43' 39.5 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Samson’s Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by hamish

Even from a distance looking north it looks impressive

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Aug 21, 2005
Image of Samson’s Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by hamish

Field gate before the railway bridge,far side of the field and very impressive.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Aug 21, 2005

Articles

Samson’s Stone

C
CARL Mar 23, 2010

Really easy this one. Drive down the road which runs alongside the field where the stone stands. Park next to the gate which leads into the field and you will see the stone directly in front of you. You don’t even have to get out of the car if you don’t want to!
Easily see when driving east along the M4 – drive carefully though!!!

Samson’s Stone

hamish
hamish Aug 21, 2005

This was a beautiful day and I have wanted for a long time to visit this Stone, and it was well worth it.So here it is Rhiannon in all its glory.

Folklore

Samson’s Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Dec 18, 2009

Standing in a field, near Ty’n-y-seler, is a large monolith or maenhir 8 feet high, 5 1/2 feet wide, and 3 feet thick. Miss Emily David, Maesgwyn, informed me that it is said in the neighbourhood this huge stone goes each Christmas morning before cockcrow to drink in the sea.

...

Mr. Evan John, of Ty’n-y-Seler, recently told me of a large stone lying on Margam Moors, and of the tradition in the neighbourhood about it, that Samson threw it from near the “Pound” at Margam, to where it lies, five-sixths of a mile away. I found it to be a maenhir lying on the ground, partly covered with earth and over-grown by a thorn-bush. Having regard to its position it may have had some relation to the maenhir at Ty’n-y-Seler, from which it stands north-west about one and an eighth mile, and half a mile outside of Kenfig Borough boundary to the north, in Margam Parish. The stone measures nine feet in length, six feet in width, and one foot in thickness, but a large flake of stone near had evidently been split off it, so that it was formerly much thicker. It probably weighed nearly four tons originally and must have been an imposing monument when upright. When the ditch was made near the stone, in the time of the monks, it was carried partly round it, and I have no doubt the digging of the ditch caused the fall of the stone.
This maenhir stood in a peculiar position, for at high-water of spring tides, before the first of the sea walls was constructed, it would be surrounded by the tidal waters.

From ‘The Buried City of Kenfig’ (ch. 8) by Thomas Gray (1909).

One would have hoped that the fairies might have protected the latter stone (it having its thorn bush and everything). But I fear that if it were north west of the Ty’n-y-Selar stone, it’s either in the reservoir or trampled by the railway or the steelworks. One can only hope against hope that it’s safe somewhere. They’re seemingly quite good directions. Maybe it’s possible to figure out where it ought to be /have been.

Incidentally I didn’t realise how tall the stone is? It’s quite hard to imagine from Hamish’s loving photographs.

Folklore

Samson’s Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Dec 5, 2002

This doesn’t look a very comfortable place for a stone judging by the map. It’s hemmed in by the M4, the railway, a small road, and there’s an industrial estate across the way. But when it was thrown here by St Sampson (from Margam mountain) for reasons left unsaid by Barber in his ‘More mysterious Wales’ – well it was probably a nice spot, not far from the sea and the sand dunes, and the mountains to the north.

Worth checking out just for the situation? But don’t turn up before cockcrow on Christmas day or you won’t see it – the stone will have uprooted itself and be on its way down to the river for a drink. Grinsell (in ‘folklore of prehistoric sites in Britain’) specifically mentions the sea at Sker as its favoured drinking location. Sker House itself dates back to medieval times and is said to be very haunted. Perhaps that’s why the stone is drawn there. Or maybe it’s more prehistoric connections – you can see a mace found there at
walespast.com/article-print.shtml?id=15&image=3

By the way – if you go to see it move, try not to get in its way. Bad luck is supposed to fall on anyone who obstructs its path.* Not to mention the fact that you’ll get squashed, of course.

* Mentioned in the leaflet here: bridgend.gov.uk/Web1/groups/tourism/documents/marketing/002556.pdf

Another stone lies fairly near by , but it’s on the Roman ‘Water Street’ and maybe connected with that?

Sites within 20km of Samson’s Stone

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