Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone

Nearest town:
Llandrindod Wells (8km E)
OS reference:
SN975637
OS sheet:
147
Latitude:
52° 15' 41.19 N
Longitude:
3° 30' 7.28 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by thesweetcheat

St Gwrthwl and his stone, from the church’s information board

Image credit: A. Brookes (15.5.2023)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Jun 7, 2024
Image of Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th March 2003: Looking west towards the porch.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Mar 31, 2003
Image of Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th March 2003: A nice passport photo, taken from the south west.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Mar 31, 2003
Image of Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone (Standing Stone / Menhir) by Kammer

Taken 9th March 2003: The stone stands on the south side of the church. Three and a half year old for scale.

Image credit: Simon Marshall
Kammer
Kammer Mar 31, 2003

Articles

Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone

C
CARL Dec 13, 2011

Visited 9.12.11

Directions – easy. Take the minor road west off the A470 to the village of Llanwrthwl – ¼ mile. This road takes you directly to the church. You can access the pretty graveyard either through the gate (the option Karen took) or up and over the stone wall stepping stones (the option I took!)

By now light showers had started but this didn’t diminish from the lovely setting of this church / stone This may sound strange but the site ‘feels’ ancient. Its location surrounded by hills is wonderful.

It’s a big lump of rock – approximately 2 metres high x 1.5 metres across.
The information board describes it as a 3,000 to 4,000 year old ‘sacrificial’ stone – I don’t know what that is based on?

It is also well worth having a look inside the church which boasts a lovely 13th century font.

Overall a top notch place to visit. Highly recommended.

Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone

Kammer
Kammer Mar 31, 2003

Visited 9th March 2003: Llanwrthwl Churchyard is a fat monolith, dominating the south entrance to St Gwrthwl’s church. It seems likely that the stone was erected long before the church. Apart from anything else, it bears no resemblance to a cross shaft, and looks rather more like a ruddy great big standing stone (Rhiannon’s word ‘stout’ sums it up). I can confirm that the churchyard isn’t circular any more, just a bit rounded.

We visited on a Sunday, and there was a service going on in the church (shame because I wanted to see inside). I wonder how many people in the congregation realise how long the site has been in use for ritual purposes. I’m guessing at between 3000 and 4000 years!

St Gwrthwl’s church is easy to get to (the only church in the village so you can’t miss it).

Miscellaneous

Llanwrthwl Churchyard Stone
Standing Stone / Menhir
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Dec 11, 2002

This stout stone, over a metre and a half high, stands outside the entrance to St Gwrthwl’s church. The churchyard is slightly rounded – according to the Clwyd-Powys archaeological trust, the NE perimeter is part of an earlier, smaller circular enclosure, and you can see a low scarp on the west and south sides. The present church is quite new, replacing an older one in Victorian times.

Interestingly, the river Wye is only about 100 yards away: perhaps this is significant in the positioning of the stone / site (or perhaps this is a case of me trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole).

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