treaclechops

This circle of recumbent stones is quite lovely, and lies right next to a smart farmhouse (how is it these Welsh folk get to have such antiquities in their gardens?! See Fairy Oak Round Barrow). Some of the stones have been robbed, but nonetheless, an idea of the commanding nature of the place remains. Fab mountain views are to be had on all sides. Pretty.

A large mound, with two uprights like snaggly teeth, sits in a field on the Dee floodplain. This must have been very impressive in its hey-day, but sadly has been robbed for stonework. Still lovely, though, especially under a winter sunset, while a thrush sings through the dusk.

This is a stunning site; set in magnificent scenery, relatively diminutive, yet equally as magnificent for its completeness. It is quite easy to believe that the original builders abandoned it a few hundred years ago, let alone 4,000 years ago.

We visited on a classically beautiful late winter afternoon, and were bewitched. The peace of this cosy circle is deeply regenerating; its effect has continued on in me for days. Do visit, and prepare to be transported.

A rare and unexpected Bronze Age treat to be found, surprisingly, in the heart of Wrexham. In the centre of Wrexham County Borough Museum stands an unassuming box on a plinth, with a large piece of black foam rubber resting on its top. Lift this up, and suddenly you are transported back in time approximately 3,600 years, as you look down into a Middle Bronze Age burial cist. Even more exciting is the fact that the original inhabitant of this large box remains in situ, grave goods beside his disarticulated bones.

Brymbo Man, as he is known, was discovered in 1968 when a new housing estate was being built in Brymbo (pronounced ‘Brumbo’), an outlying village near Wrexham. Near what is now 79 Cheshire View (give a big clue on the terrain; the most wonderful views of the Cheshire Plain can be had from the local hills; evidently just as emotive these days), a workman’s pick hit Bronze Age pay-dirt approximately 1 foot below the ground’s surface. Intially they had discovered a capstone five and half feet long, but below this lay a burial cist, containing a human skull and a few bones, besides a large beaker and a flint knife. The entire lot, including the cist, was intially moved to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff – but happily, 30 years later in 1998, Brymbo Man came home to his present resting place in the County Museum.

The museum have made much of this corking find, and have a very good display on the Bronze Age as result – very child friendly, too. Probably the next best object after the cist and remains is the reconstructed head of Brymbo Man, giving an idea of what the ancient peoples of this area looked like; not much has changed, really!

This is a real archaelogical and anthropological gem, well worth a look if ever you are passing.

Find out more at:

https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/brymbo_man/bm_revealed.htm

Originally discovered when excavations took place in the grounds of Hillbury House. Now very little remains of this barrow in what thse days is the Nazareth House complex. Without the aid of a detailed map (and assistance from the County Archaeologist at the local musuem), you would be forgiven for assuming this rise in the ground was just an attractive piece of landscaping.

Two medium-sized chestnut trees grow out of it, and a unlovely set of flats in the vast Nazareth House grounds back onto half of it; a concrete path cuts across the barrow, access for the flats. Sad.

A large round barrow dominates a green sward belonging to a Victorian villa in Wrexham, Jewel of North Wales. Fairy Oak lies within the grounds of a Victorian walled garden, with neatly trimmed lawns (as if for croquet), and busy traffic the other side of the red brick walls.

The grassy, rotund barrow – about seven feet high or so, and probably not dissimilar in size to Churn Knob – takes up most of the garden. One huge and clearly ancient oak tree grows out of the southern side of the barrow, whilst an equally huge chestnut springs forth from the south-western corner.

The owners of the property have plonked two fairy silhouette figurines (of the type found at a garden centre near you), on the barrow, the elvish characters racing their way across to the chestnut tree. Sweet. Corny. Inevitable. The trees themselves provide a wonderful amount of shade and a sepulchral, cathedral-like quality to this well-kept round barrow. The house is called ‘Fairy Mount’, and can be found on ‘Fairy Road’. Splendid that the ancient structure is commemorated in the name of the street – even though it is invisible from the road.

The house has just come onto the market – and I can’t afford it! Bah!