Blossom has Frances Lynch’s excellent Gwynedd guide with her and we have a quick look to see what else there is around here. The prominent jumble of upright stones visible to the west is the most obvious place to head next. Unfortunately we don’t realise that Circle 278 is hidden away over a little crest and miss it completely. Drat.
Monument 280 (these numbers suggest a spectacular profusion of other sites crowding around us) is very difficult to get a handle on, even when you’re standing in its midst. A row of four uprights run north-south across the monument, while on the west an apparent kerb forms its edge. Shapes and patterns can be discerned, but are contradicted by other patterns. Truly an enigma.
At least they bothered to call it a monument, it doesn't even get mentioned in AB's stone circle guide, and Coflein doesn't have a description but it does have four pics and the vague title of Penmaenmawr stone circle, it is much more than any of this it's North Wales most mysterious "monument". No one seems to know what it was, three of the stones seem to be in a straight line but in amongst the megalithic melee
there is what looks like to me another little stone circle or kerb for a cairn.
What ever it turns out to be, for now it is an enigma more worthy of an excavation than any other "monument" up here. It was obviously an important something and is in a prominent position, Tal y Fan is long and rocky (with two notches for alignments?) and dominates the south western aspect, from the stones we can see the big Druids circle and turning round down to the Cors y Carneddau.
There are smaller cairns all over this area. Beyond the hill near the stones, on rough ground can be found the sight of a WW2 plane crash (the Bachelor Baby).
The collection of stones can be found just a short step away form the main circle, if you're setting off to walk across the moor on a small track in the direction on Tal y fan, in just a minute you will go through these stones.