thesweetcheat

thesweetcheat

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Image of Corstorphine Hill (Cup Marked Stone) by thesweetcheat

Corstorphine Hill

Cup Marked Stone

The main group covers the rock nearest the camera. The group of four is on the larger slab beyond. I blame the meerkats for stopping us getting here while the sun was high enough to illuminate the site.

Image credit: A. Brookes (2.10.2016)
Image of Perthi Duon (Burial Chamber) by thesweetcheat

Perthi Duon

Burial Chamber

At this time of the year the tree line blocks much of the view of the mountains across the Menai Straits, but Elidir Fawr and Y Garn in the Glyders can be seen. Yr Wyddfa would be visible over to the right without the trees.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2016)
Image of Brynsiencyn (Round Barrow(s)) by thesweetcheat

Brynsiencyn

Round Barrow(s)

As Carl says, the hedges are high. It looks as though access to the field is from the north via the farmhouse. The mountains behind are Moel Eilio and Mynydd Mawr, both with substantial Bronze Age cairns on their summits.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2016)
Image of Maen Morddwyd (Standing Stone / Menhir) by thesweetcheat

Maen Morddwyd

Standing Stone / Menhir

The Victorian church at Llanedwen, showing the location beside the Menai Straits with the backdrop of Carneddau mountains. Follow the path to the left, round to the east end of the churchyard to the stone I found. Bryn yr Hen Bobl chambered tomb is two fields away.

Image credit: A. Brookes (22.9.2016)

Maen Morddwyd

22 September 2016

The coast path runs a hundred yards from the church at Llanedwen, so it’s no hardship to detour off for a quick rummage around the churchyard. Cloudless blue sky, sun sparkling on the deeper blue of the Menai Straits, a picture perfect backdrop of the mountain ranges of North Wales from Carneddau to Nantlle ridge, this couldn’t be a nicer spot for a hill-free post-equinox walk.

Llanedwen is one of two possible locations for Maen Morddwyd, fittingly for its reputation as a wandering stone. The other is Llanidan, a couple of miles further along our route today.

Rhiannon has found lots of slightly contradictory information about the stone. The sources don’t seem to agree about which church(yard) it’s in, none really give a description other than the fact it’s shaped “like a thigh” and all of them predate some fairly big upheavals at both sites. And they seem to agree that it went missing before all of that anyway. There seems to be a lack of engravings, woodcuts, potato prints, watercolours and etchings of the stone.

Llanedwen church has been completely rebuilt, but appears to have retained its original churchyard. Llanidan by contrast was replaced by a brand new church, with the original left to fall into disrepair, ruin and private ownership.

So I hold out little hope of finding the missing stone, but it’s always worth a look. Now, I’m not claiming anything here, just reporting what I found.

Round the back of the church (the east end if you like your directions more directional), just inside the wall but not part of it, is a slim, slightly tapering stone, buried in the ground so that its top surface and the upper parts of its sides are visible above the grass.

It’s the shape of a chunky human thigh, if that’s what you want to see. It’s a little over 2 feet long, broader and one end that the other, much like a thigh.

The church itself is locked, so there’s no opportunity to investigate the interior for further thigh-shaped stones. When we get to Llanidan a little later in the day, the whole site is locked, but someone over on the portal has drawn a blank in there. So this might be the best bet we have. Or it might be nothing at all.

Is it Maen Morddwyd? No idea. I don’t even know if this is the right churchyard, after all. But it’s nice to do a bit of investigative nosing about, especially in such a lovely spot.

Image of Worlebury (Hillfort) by thesweetcheat

Worlebury

Hillfort

The westernmost tip of the fort, falling near-vertically towards the sea. The skeletal remains of Birnbeck pier can be seen through the trees.

Image credit: A. Brookes (29.8.2016)