Bryn-yr-Ellyllon

Also known as:
Goblin's Hill, Mold and Pentre Hill
Nearest town:
Mold (2km SW)
OS reference:
SJ243639
OS sheet:
117
Latitude:
53° 9' 59.24 N
Longitude:
3° 7' 56.94 W
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Bryn-yr-Ellyllon

Mold gold cape: Bronze Age site's 'exciting' new finds

moss
moss Sep 21, 2013
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An archaeological dig on the site where a priceless Bronze Age gold cape was found has unearthed new finds.

It had been thought nothing was left at the site at Mold, Flintshire after it was last excavated in 1953.

But a community dig led by archaeologists has now turned up tiny burned fragments of bone and small pieces of pottery.

They could turn out to be older than the Mold Gold Cape which was made 3,700 years ago from a single sheet of gold.

The cape, which was discovered in 1833, is one of the British Museum’s most prized artefacts and it has been on show at Cardiff and Wrexham this summer.

It was found with a skeleton in a burial site.

The latest discovery could mean the site had some significance further back than many expected, according to archaeologist Mark Lodwick, who is finds co-ordinator for Wales for the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

This manages artefacts unearthed by the wider community.

“The cape is one of Britain’s, one of Europe’s best artefacts in fact, it’s a fantastic object,” said Mr Lodwick.

“But the site where it was found has been neglected somewhat and it has been great to work with the community to fill in some of the gaps”.

Mr Lodwick, who is normally based at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, has been working with colleague Alice Forward, a community archaeologist and they believe the community dig may have unearthed fragments which pre-date the cape.

“We might have small remnant pieces of the early Bronze Age monument,” he said.

“We’ve got to take them back to the museum for proper examination but at the moment it’s looking very exciting.”

“What we might have is earlier use of the land.”
A suspected burial site belonging to the early medieval period, is also thought to have been discovered nearby.

But it will not be excavated during this dig as the whole excavation site is to be closed on Saturday.

And Mr Lodwick said that may mean experts returning to the site in the future to explore further.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-24179680

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Bryn-yr-Ellyllon

Mold Cape to Return Home?

Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 6, 2004
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By Carl Butler (from IC Northwales)

A visitor centre to highlight the Bronze Age and Celtic culture of north east Wales is planned and could attract up to 150,000 tourists a year.

At its core would be the famous gold Bronze Age Mold Cape, currently held in the British Museum.

Experts have drawn up a study and believe a centre is feasible, probably on land next to Clwyd Theatr Cymru.

The CAPE (Culture, Archaeology, Prehistory Experience) Project chairman is Adrian Barsby, of Mold’s Beaufort Park Hotel. He said: “Early indications from the report suggest the project is viable, there are a number of possible sites available and it has the potential to fill a tourism gap in the region.

“We urge local people to take an interest and get involved. It is vital we now widen the debate and engage local people at the earliest opportunity in the future planning of the project in the hope that they will get behind it.

“Early reactions from people consulted have been positive.”

To get the project going, the report will suggest trying to establish an academic centre first which could be a base for archaeological dig teams.

With its proximity to the major towns and cities of the North West, a new visitor attraction could attract anything between 50,000 and 150,000 a year, say the consultants.

The team behind CAPE includes representatives of the area’s tourism organisations as well as local businesses, Flintshire County Council, Mold 2000, Mold Town Partnership and the Welsh Development Agency.

The whole idea was sparked by a drive in the town for the return of its famous Bronze Age cape.

* The report will be presented to the public on Monday, February 16 in Clwyd Theatr Cymru Mold at 7pm. Copies of the study report will be available to view in Mold Library.

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Folklore

Bryn-yr-Ellyllon
Round Barrow(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 10, 2011
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On The Gold Corselet Found Near Mold, Flintshire.

Though the discovery of this unique and splendid corselet took place some years ago, viz. A.D. 1833, yet, as no very satisfactory conjectures relative to the distinguished wearer were then offered, it is presented once more to the notice of the public [..]

We shall preface our account with a “ghost story,” which is as singular as it is true. A considerable time previous to the discovery, an old woman, on her return from Mold late one night, saw an apparition “of unusual size, and clothed in a coat of gold, which shone like the sun,” crossing her road to the identical spot where the treasure was afterwards found*, and which was commonly known by the name of “Bryn yr Ellyllon,” or the Goblins’ Hill. We stop not to enquire into the probable nature of this spectre, whether it was really an emigrant from the unseen world, or merely the effect of imagination, or some other optical illusion; it is sufficient for us that the old woman herself was convinced of its personality. And no less curious is it, that she should have mentioned the circumstance on the following morning, amongst others, to the very person whose workmen dug out the breast-plate!

*This circumstance is mentioned by the Rev. C.B. Clough, Vicar of Mold (and now Archdeacon of St. Asaph,) in a letter communicated by him to John Gage, Esq., Director of the Society of Antiquaries, where he moreover adds: “Her having related this story is an undoubted fact.”

Lots of details too of the unearthing of the various objects, from Archaeologia Cambrensis, v3, 1848.
archive.org/stream/archaeologiacam30assogoog#page/n112

The Monthly Review from 1837 shows the story was definitely doing the rounds quickly, as the quoted letter is supposed to date from 1834.
books.google.co.uk/books?id=hfgEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA555

And finally, here, and certainly best of all, is a letter from John Gage, and he quotes the Rev. Clough (The old woman had been to collect her husband from the pub. But I’m sure she wouldn’t have drank anything before she saw the ghost :)
books.google.co.uk/books?id=R1pEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA424
It’s in v26 of Archaeologia (1836).

It includes a lovely drawing of the design on the cape.

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Folklore

Bryn-yr-Ellyllon
Round Barrow(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 24, 2004
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Richard Holland’s 1989 book ‘Supernatural Clwyd’ gives these details of the folklore. These stories “supposedly” predate the discovery of the cape.

It seems that Bryn-yr-Ellyllon was the name given to the hill approaching Pentre. In 1830 a farmer’s wife was returning up it from Mold market when her horse began to get jumpy. She saw lights in the woods to her right and wondered if a fire had started in them. Suddenly a huge figure wearing golden armour strode out of the woods – he was shining with the weird golden light. He crossed in front of her and straight into the barrow on the opposite side of the road. Immediately the golden light disappeared.

The farmer’s wife pulled herself together and rode to the Rev. Charles Butler Clough’s vicarage. He took her statement and got two people to witness it. (He printed it in the 1861 book ‘Scenes and Stories Little Known.’) He did some more research and found that the barrow itself was known as Tomen yr Ellyllon, and that it was regarded as haunted and a place people avoided. An old man who lived nearby told him of Brenin yr Allt, the King of the Hillside. The field in which the mound lay was supposedly called Cae’r Yspryd (Field of the Ghost).

He also discovered there had been sightings in the previous century (look, this is a man of the cloth we’re talking about – would he lie for a good story?). A girl called Nancy had seen the spectre standing on the mound twice, and another woman who’d seen it had apparently gone mad for seven years. It was, she said ‘All glittering and shining in gold’. The story at icNorth Wales here mentions that Nancy was rather relieved when the gold cape was found, because it collaborated her story (and no doubt reassured her that she wasn’t totally bonkers). She felt that the ghost wouldn’t be seen again – which it wasn’t.

Various stories surround what happened after the barrow was broken into. It’s known that many of the amber beads found their way home in people’s pockets. One woman who took some home for her young daughter heard stamping feet at her cottage that night, and an invisible hand knocked on the doors and windows. Reluctantly she took the beads back and threw them on the remains of the barrow.

It is also said that many of the wedding rings handed down in Mold are made from melted gold from Bryn yr Ellyllon, though no associations with bad luck were mentioned with these.

One of the slabs from the tomb is said to be the first of the steps up the Bailey Hill in the centre of Mold.


Holland includes a photo of the house which was built on the site. A plaque is cemented into its garden wall commemorating the barrow and its find. It claims that the tomb was the burial place of the giant prince Benlli Gawr... but that’s a different story.

(However, there are discrepancies in Holland’s tale – he claims the book mentioned was written by the Reverend himself, but it was actually his wife.. so who knows what other aspects are factually a bit suspect. Still, it’s all folklore isn’t it – including the way new retellings get incorporated with the old ones. Nothing should come in the way of a good story).

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Miscellaneous

Bryn-yr-Ellyllon
Round Barrow(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 6, 2004
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The beautiful and unique Bronze Age Mold gold cape was discovered by labourers breaking stone for road building, in 1833. They were digging a mound in a field known as ‘Bryn Yr Ellyllon’ – Hill of the Elves, and it was found crushed and in pieces in a stone-lined grave at the mound’s centre. They also found some amber beads with the skeleton. The pieces were originally thought to be an chest ornament for a horse, but eventually it was reassembled into a strange collar that would have restricted the wearer’s arms.

There’s a copy of the cape in the Mold Library – but hopefully, after many years of campaigns, perhaps the *real* cape will be returned to the town.

By the way, if you go to the British Museum to see it, if you stand in front of the case and squint a bit, you can see your reflection and the cape at the same time, and it looks like you’re wearing the thing. Spooky.

It seems that the vultures descended as soon as it was unearthed and bits spread far and wide. But this page in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London (v 3, 1856) speaks hopefuly of how a fragment had been retrieved, and how it held useful information about the ‘corselet’s original appearance.

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Link

Bryn-yr-Ellyllon
Round Barrow(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Jan 17, 2007
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Google Books

“Scenes and Stories Little Known – Chiefly in North Wales” is now available to read online. It seems that it wasn’t written by the vicar, but his wife(?), Margaret Butler Clough. What’s more, the stories are in verse. The profits went to the Repairing Fund for Bistre church, you’ll be pleased to hear. The relevant chapter is called “The Field of the Golden Corselet” in which she describes “A mist-robed form stood with imperial mien” of which none saw the face, and “sometimes low sweet music stole around.”
Interestingly, in the notes to the poem, she says:

An old man, commonly called “old Hugh of the Pentre,” used to tell children so about 25 years ago. He called the appearance “Brenhin yr Allt,” literally the Ancient King.

- this adds weight to the idea that the story existed before the discovery of the cape? Though the sightings in the verses do not actually mention a gold cape, the hay field was “ever called the Field of Gold” (according to the poem, at least).

The bones found were said to be “those of a man of great stature, and the skull of gigantic proportions; but they crumbled almost immediately to dust.” MBC connects this with stories of “Benlli Gawr, or the Giant, [who] lived at Mold, then called Wydd Grug, in the 5th century. He was lord of an extensive district around, and had a camp or fortress on Moel Benlli.”

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