Kammer

Visited 7th December 2003: We parked on the A496 and asked about access at a house near the stones. The gentleman I spoke to was very congenial. He said that a footpath runs very close to them, and he couldn’t see any problem with us taking a closer look. I should add that it wasn’t his land, but he seemed to know what he was talking about.

We found the stones standing very modestly in the field in the shadow of a large tree which stands right next to them. There’s an iron fence around them and the tree, presumably to protect all three from livestock. One of the stones is tall and slender, and the other much shorter. As Julian observed, the smaller of the two looks almost delicate, and it’s amazing that’s it’s survived. Wear wellies if you visit during the winter.

Visited 7th December 2003: Access to Cors y Gedol is very good, with a level tarmac path leading right past it. It would be a great site for a wheelchair user to visit, or anyone with limited mobility. The only potential problems are the uneven surface and gradient in the car park, the gate at the start of the path and getting to see the chamber from all angles. I’d have thought an extra set of hands would resolve most of these, except possibly the last.

Having described the access as very good, I should mention that we made very slow progress to the chamber because the nice farmer had put a herd of cattle in the field, including calves and at least one bull. We nearly turned back, but decided to keep going, moving gingerly along the perimeter wall. This seemed to work, but it wasn’t a relaxing experience.

The tomb itself is interesting, sitting in a beautiful location in the shadow of cairn capped Moelfre. The views out to sea are almost as striking. At the time I interpreted it as either an earth-fast tomb or a collapsed portal dolmen. There’s cairn material evident around the chamber, especially to the west. Possibly one of those sites best visited in winter.

Visited 7th December 2003: We parked in the cul-de-sac called Bro Arthur, walked back onto the main road then made our way up the path to the mighty Dyffryn Ardudwy. Luckily for us the weather was spot on, with good crisp winter sunshine.

It was a dynamic visit. The cairn material made it tricky for Alfie to walk around, so he was in a bit of a grump at first. Then William managed to get his foot wedged between two of the orthostats in the eastern chamber. I rescued him, and after some tears he was back to normal, pretending he was in a ‘ty-house’ (or is that ‘tea-house’). Before we left I squeezed into the western chamber with both the boys, peaking out at Lou (who wasn’t silly enough to follow us). The boys thought this was hysterical (so did I if I’m honest).

Visited 6th December 2003: I’ve visited the Bryn Rhosau barrows a few times before, mainly because they’re very close to my house. Round barrows are unusual in this part of Ceredigion, and of these two the one to the north is especially well defined. Gelli is not far to the west, with Dolgamfa and Ysbytty Cynfyn off to the east. This area must have been something special during the Bronze Age. These two barrows may be connected with Afon Tuen, a small tributary of the Rheidol, which once had it’s source where Lyn yr Oerfa is now.

It’s a very exposed spot, so when we last visited the winter winds made it hard to stand up. In the summer it’s beautiful though, with wild flower growing on the Common, Skylarks, Red Kite, Buzzards, Brown Hare etc. The Rheidol Wind Farm is relatively close, but not intrusive.

The Bryn Rhosau barrows are on Common Land, but it’s not straightforward getting to them. The quickest route I’ve found is to park by Lyn yr Oerfa (SN72957978) and walk up the public footpath that follows the track north. After the first house, take the stile on the left (you’re now on Common Land) and continue north, parallel to the boundary fence (the round barrows are now silhouetted on the horizon to the east). Once you have passed north of the two houses you can turn east (at SN73138014 and make your way up to the barrows.

Visited 26th November 2003: This was a fleeting visit, having persuaded a colleague to tag along after a work visit to Swansea. We drove right up the drive and parked in a little car park near the cairn. It was overcast, the light was fading and it soon began spitting with rain. Having only seen photos of the site I was surprised how small it was, not so much in length but in the height of masonry.

Almost as soon as we got to the cairn my camera stopped working. From the few shots I got, only one came out without camera shake. Must go back again under better circumstances.

Visited 22nd November 2003: William and I climbed Dinas, me with Alfie on my back. The plan was to get the boys out of the house so that Louise could work. Will coped well with the gradient (genuinely enthusiastic), especially as he was only four. Alfie slept most of the time (no enthusiasm there).

By the time we got to the top there wasn’t much sunshine left. The oblique light worked to emphasize the contours of the fortifications, so it was easy to take photos. The views of the surrounding hills and Dinas Reservoir were as stunning as I remembered from the last time I climbed up to the fort. It got chilly as the sun set, and with the light fading we headed back downhill to the car, making it before it got dark.

Visited 9th December 2003: Old Warren is now tree covered, sitting above the slightly dilapidated Nanteos Mansion. It is managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, and is accessible to the public from the south.

I visited the fort for the first time following reports that a paintball company was applying for permission to use the adjoining woodland. When I got there it turned out that there is no shared perimeter between the two pieces of land, although they are very close. The archaeology is unlikely to be effected by the paintballing, although the nature reserve may suffer from the noise.

Apparently the fort is the largest single-ditched hillfort in Wales. This may well be true, but it’s hard to get a good idea of the layout of the defences because of the foliage. I was interested to see relatively new wooden steps built into one of the defensive banks. This struck me as a bit unnecessary, especially given the small number of visitors that the site gets.

Visited 11th October 2003: Easy to find and relatively easy to get at. We asked about the stone at the museum, and although they couldn’t help at the time I got some information from them through the post (currently ‘misplaced’). Not exactly a megalithic wonder, but if you’re in the Peterborough area then you’re not spoilt for choice.

Visited 23rd September 2003: I was initially drawn to Carreg-y-Bwci because, on the Landranger map, it looked like a round barrow with a name. Also, as I had Alfie with me, it had the extra appeal of being near the road.

I parked just to the north of the site near the cattle grid, and walked up to the site. Although I’d done no research at this stage, it was pretty obvious from the beginning that something was a bit unusual. The boulder in the centre of the site is enormous, and unlikely. It could almost be a natural rock, incorporated into the site. The tight surrounding circular bank is well defined and rounded (almost feminine). Smaller stones lie on one side of the site, looking almost like kerb stones. I was just totally stumped as to what I was looking at.

Definitely worth visiting if you’re near Lampeter, if only to ponder the meaning of it all.

Visited 23rd September 2003: This cairn is a bit of a mess, but represents the last survivor of a number that once stood in the area (according to the NMR). There’s a gateway opposite the cairn, but the cairn material isn’t easy to see without taking a closer look.

Visited 23rd September 2003: The area around Hirfaen Gwyddog is very rural, so I was a bit surprised to find a lorry maintenance depot directly to the south east of the stone. Here I asked about access, and they invited me to park the car in the yard and walk up to the stone over the fields behind them. With Alfie on my back I headed off, expecting more of an uphill slog than I got.

As the hill leveled out we saw the stone, sitting unassumingly below the horizon on a field boundary. Two gates later we were there, and it didn’t seem understated any more. The stone itself was magnificent, lit up by bright sunshine against a troubled sky. The strange diagonal markings near the tip of the stone looked like gills, and the point of the tip was sharp like a shark’s nose. Not a shape I’ve ever seen before, and clearly chosen for the shape by the people who erected it. I was pleased to see that the barbed wire I’d seen looped around the stone in photos was gone (nice new fence as well).

Alfie played while I took photos from every angle I could. It was addictive, and I didn’t want to leave. Every time the clouds moved, the light changed, and I needed to take more! What a fantastic place. Must go back soon!

Visited 20th September 2003: We visited the barrow on a circular walk, but if you wanted to see it for its own sake access is reasonably good. The nearest road is only half a mile away, and the barrow itself is on a public footpath.

Round barrows are quite unusual in this area (round cairns are much more common), but Gelli is one of a small selection that have survived. There’s a relatively modern hedge bank (minus the hedge) running through the barrow, so from some angles it looks very wrong. The lack of cultivation in the area means that the barrow mound is still quite large, but I have no recollection of seeing a surrounding of ditch.

Not a spectacular site, but a nice enough place to visit if you’re based in the area. The gradient from the road to the barrow is relatively shallow, but the path isn’t good enough to get a wheelchair up without some difficulty.

As an aside, I only realised after our visit that Gelli is visible against the skyline from Banc Bwa-Drain, so now I get to see it on a regular basis (as a tiny lump in the distance).

Visited 28th August 2003: Robin Hood’s Stone is no longer in its original position, having been moved to accommodate housing development in 1928. It now stands behind railings on the corner where Archerfield Road meets Booker Avenue (the grid reference is less accurate than this description). An accompanying plaque explains the stone’s origins (see below).

The side of the stone that originally faced south now faces south east. It originally stood approximately 60 meters away to the north, presumably inconveniently situated where a nice ‘modern semi detached house was planned (otherwise it would have made a lovely garden feature). The top of the stone is weathered into vertical grooves.

Visited 27th August 2003: Signposted from the A25, a tiny dead-end road runs past the field where Arragon Moar Circle sits. The road is only really used by farm traffic, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was private. There’s an absence of any signage to tell you where to stop once you’ve left the A25, so a map is very handy.

About 1km along the road it changes direction (turning south) and there’s a gateless gateway into a field straight ahead of you. This is the best place to park and view the circle (and it’s neighbor, Arragon Mooar Burial Cairn) from afar, or get a closer look by continuing on foot. When we visited Arragon Moar the field had recently been ploughed, and everywhere was really dry and dusty in a Holy Land kid of way. We parked up, and tramped through the dust to the circle.

Of course it’s not really a stone circle (there aren’t any true stone circles on Mann), but the site does consist of a close circle of relatively large orthostats sticking up out of a mound. Once this was a burial cairn, but now it may as well be an embanked stone circle, the end result is so darned close.

The views out to sea from Arragon Moar Circle are spectacular, especially looking south west towards Langness. If Arragon Mooar Circle and Arragon Mooar Burial Cairn are related to each another, then the circle must represent the burial of a superior chief/priest because it’s got a much better position (in my humble). High up, overlooking the sea in one direction and the rolling fertile landscape in the other, it’s a potent place to put a tomb. Well worth a visit, but like so many of the sites on Mann, not even slightly wheelchair friendly.

Visited 27th August 2003: Arragon Mooar Burial Cairn isn’t as accessible as Arragon Moar Circle (presumably you’d need the farmer’s permission to visit it). From the road it appears to be smaller and less dramatic. The two sites are intervisible and it seems likely they’re part of the same cemetery. Our ‘visit‘ was more a case of admiring from afar (from the point where the small road to the south of the site bends sharply south). For details of where to park etc see my fieldnotes for Arragon Moar Circle.

Visited 27th August 2003: By the time we reached Port Grenaugh, everyone was tired, especially William. It was very hot and sunny, and the last thing he really wanted to do was walk up any kind of gradient. Ice creams were mentioned a lot, but there was no van.

The cliff top path up to Cronk ny Merriu isn’t all that bad, but there’s a stile to get over that will cause problems for anyone with mobility problems. There is a bench along the way for resting though (which William made use of).

The fort isn’t very large, but it’s dramatically situated above the beach. Once inside we kept a t tight reign on Will (Alfie was safely on my back) because there are sheer drops on three sides of the fort. The rampart is large, and tucked in behind it are the remains of a Viking house. It’s worth walking off along the footpath to the east to get views of the fort from that direction. From here you’ll see the rampart apparently joining up with a natural rock promontory running up the cliff side (badly explained, but I know what I mean).

After visiting the fort we played on the beach. In the sunshine this was jsut the trick (even without ice ceams). In most other respects, Cronk ny Merriu is not very kiddy friendly (not small kiddies anyway).

Visited 27th August 2003: Ballakelly sits in a small circular enclosure in a field adjacent to the A25. Parking is appalling, and the road is relatively busy (for the Isle of Man). We squeezed our little car into a gateway across the road, but it felt temporary, and contributed towards a very brief visit.

The stones that make up the site fall into two distinct groups. The chamber on the north west side of the site, and a scattering of stones on the ground to the south east. When we visited there was quite long grass growing around the stones, which combined with the restrictive perimeter fence made it difficult to figure out. Having read up a bit on the site since our visit, I realise we missed both cup marks and the end of a splitting wedge lodged in one of the scattered stones.

Would have liked more time to figure this one out.

Visited 26th August 2003: Balladoole hillfort is relatively small, and would in itself be not too spectacular. However, within the boundaries of it’s defences are three other sites (listed below).

Parking and signage are reasonably good, as is access to the fort. There is a maintained path up to the site, and grass cut paths around it’s perimeter. It’s not a long walk to the top, but the views are pretty impressive, both looking inland towards the mountains and out to sea. It’s obviously a good defensive position, as well as a place to be seen from a long way off in the surrounding countryside. Well worth a visit, but not very wheelchair friendly purely because of the gradient.

Visited 26th August 2003: The hillfort has a circular path of cut grass around it. The first thing you’re likely to come to is the Viking ship burial, but if you keep going anti-clockwise you’ll then get to the Bronze Age cist.

Although not as impressive as the Viking ship burial or the relatively modern Keeil, it does represent the oldest evidence of ceremonial activity on the hill. The site is well kept, so there’s no foliage to fight through to get close up. There are excellent views from the cist there are fantastic views across Bay ny Carrickey towards Port St Mary.

Visited 26th August 2003: The Giant’s Quoiting Stone is marked on the Landranger map (not by name, but as Standing Stone), and visible from the road between Port St Mary and Rhenwyllan. It stands in a large field, with no obvious signs of public access.

The stone is much larger than I expected it to be, and quite uniform in shape. There’s a dark band around the lower part of the stone, presumably as a result of being rubbed against by livestock. There’s also a solitary stone at the foot it, that looks like it might plausibly have once been part of the packing material.

Visited 26th August 2003: Cronk Karran is the site I enjoyed the most on Mann. There’s some disagreement as to what it represents, but the favourite theories are hut circle or cairn circle. Although the stones are pretty unassuming, the location and tricky access make it very special.

Following the GPS from the car park we arrived at the cliff top and were very perplexed because the little LCD arrow indicated that the site was out at sea. A large stone wall blocked the immediate view over the cliff, so we moved west along the coastal footpath, over another wall, and got an aerial view of Cronk Karran from the cliff top. The circle is small, and it sits on a shelf below the cliff.

To the east of our vantage point was a strange looking old building (presumably a shelter) with benches in it, and opposite this a gate in the wall that skirts the cliff top. On the gate a large sign read...

CHASMS
WARNING DANGER
PERSONS VISITING THIS AREA DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK AND SHOULD PROCEED WITH CAUTION
MANX MUSEUM & NATIONAL TRUST

This was as close as we felt the kids should get, so I continued on my own. Beyond the gate there were indeed chasms aplenty, and I trod gingerly around them trying to find a way down to the shelf. This wasn’t easy, and the exercise took on the feel of a 1980s computer game without the usual quota of three lives.

After all the trouble getting to the circle, I found it very peaceful once I was there. The situation is exposed to the south, but walled in by cliffs to the north and east. The circle doesn’t appear to have an entrance as such, but there were signs that the ‘wall’ was made up of two rows of stones. Also of note was a small quartz stone incorporated into the wall. I wanted to stay for longer, but with the others waiting for their lunch up top, I had to move on.

I feel obliged to emphasise that Cronk Karran is not easily accessible, and the chasms and cliffs represent a significant danger to anyone visiting. The view from the top of the cliff is very good, so some people will be happy enough to view the circle from afar. If you decide to get closer, please take care.

Visited 26th August 2003: This place is mad. It’s so close to a stone circle, but it ain’t. The setting is spectacular, high above Port Erin with views out to the Calf of Man. There’s a lot of sea visible, and with the crest of the hill on the landward side of the circle it seems reasonable to assume that the site is orientated towards the coast.

As well as being spectacular and special, Meayll is very difficult to do any justice to on ‘film’. It’s definitely one of those optimised for 3D sites, where walking among the stones is the only way to really figure it out. We got a bit of sunshine, and it all felt very good. It goes without saying that Meayll is megalithic Mann royalty. Blinkin’ great!

A word of warning for anyone with limited mobility; the distance from the road to the circle is relatively short, but it’s entirely made up of a steep incline. Not at all wheelchair friendly.

Visited 26th August 2003: There are two barrows marked on the Ordnance Survey Landranger map. The easiest to see and get to (so long as you don’t wear shorts because the heather is dense) is to the east of the A27. The grid reference for this is approximately SC232769, and it’s sited on a piece of land with no boundary fence, and apparent open access.

The other barrow is to the west of the road (approximately SC230769), in a fenced off field. From the road it’s tricky to make out, and I’m not entirely sure I’ve photographed the right bump.

Worth stopping off to see if you’re passing through, if only for the view out to sea.

Visted 25th August 2003: After the Braaid we went on to explore St Patrick’s Chair, which is easy enough to find. There’s space to park opposite the footpath, and a sign indicating which way to walk. Just keep heading up the hill, and don’t let the cows intimidate you. The path itself is really a track for vehicles, but still not ideal for visitors in wheelchairs because of the gates (might need a second set of hands) and cow pats.

The stones themselves are interesting, but they don’t look prehistoric. Nice views, but I was rather disappointed by the site itself. This looks to me like a Christian site, and that’s what the sign says. Ho hum.

Visited 25th August 2003: Parking for the Braaid isn’t very easy. The nearest lay-by isn’t very close to the footpath, so you’re forced to walk along the A24, which is quite a busy road. Once on the footpath, it’s relatively easy going, but not exactly wheelchair friendly.

Just when you think the prehistoric sites on Mann couldn’t get any stranger, along comes a place like the Braaid. As we approached it I was wondering what the hell it was. Stones stick out of the ground all over the place like shark teeth. It’s only when you get up close that it begins to make sense.

The Braaid is a settlement, used up until the Viking period, but that’s about all everyone agrees on. It contains three structures, one a Viking Long House, one a Viking cattle byre and the other a circle of orthostats with rubble between them. The circle was initially interpreted as a stone circle, adapted for use as a round house in a later period. This would make it the only ‘true’ stone circle on the island. Modern thinking is that it never was a stone circle, but was built during the Iron Age as a round house.

I really enjoyed this place (even the Viking stones were pleasing). Like most of the sites on the island the Braaid is not busy with visitors. The stones are well placed in the surrounding countryside, and it’s easy to sit and ponder it all. It’s quite a puzzle.

Visited 25th August 2003: The Ballaharra Stones, like Tynwald Hill have been coiffured and made into something quite un-prehistoric looking. They sit alongside the road in a rose garden, in the shadow of the Royal Chapel of St. John, looking a bit like a badly thought out garden feature. I was a bit melancholic visiting what remains of this tomb, but I guess it’s a blessing that anything remains at all.

Visited 25th August 2003: Tynwald Hill is smaller than I’d expected. It doesn’t look like a prehistoric mound, largely because of the terracing that runs up it, and the staircase built into the eastern side. Is it prehistoric? I’m not sure that this particullar site it is, but perhaps the parliamentary customs that surround it started off at a similar Bronze Age mound nearby (a cist was discovered).

As well as the hill, it’s worth visiting the Royal Chapel of St. John (which is very modern) and Ballaharra Stones, just opposite.

Visited 25th August 2003: The Kew or Giant’s Grave is a an unusual site. Just as I was getting the hang of interpreting the Manx burial cairns I found myself flummoxed by this strange selection of stones.

The Kew is a double row of stones, the gap between the rows getting smaller at each end. The stones all lean inwards in such a regular fashion that it seems unlikely that they’ve subsided. On the western end of the site is an old field boundary, marked with a hedge-bank. This is close enough to the stones to give the impression that some of the site may be buried underneath it. At least one large stone in the hedge-bank looked like it might have once been part of the monument.

The site can be viewed from the track that runs past it, but the hedgerow makes this a bit tricky. There’s no public right of access to this site itself (something I didn’t realise at the time of our visit).

Visited 24th August 2003: Is this one site or two? Nobody seems to know for sure. We parked up right next to the north eastern section of the site, and while Alfie dozed in the car we tried to figure out what went where. Like Cashtal yn Ard there’s a forcourt, a clearly visible tomb entrance, and a long denuded cairn with chambers, but in this case the road cuts the end off.

On the other side of the road is the south western section of King Orry’s Grave, and this may or may not be part of the same cairn. The solitary standing stone is thought to be the last of the stones that defined the arced wall of yet another forecourt (this suggests to me that the two sites aren’t part of the same tomb).

Both parts of the site are difficult to interpret. Luckily there are big information boards on both sides of the road with reconstructive illustrations on them (slightly fanciful, but still useful). If you plan on visiting King Orry’s Grave, I’d recommend getting hold of a plan beforehand. It will help.

Visited 24th August 2003: Sadly there are no spirals on this stone [or at least that’s what I thought – see Captain Flint’s post]. It rests in the hedge bank of the lane leading into the tiny village of Ballaragh from the north. I have no idea how it got its name.

The Spiral Stone is thought to be a Bronze Age standing stone. Presumably it’s no longer in its original location. Parking is a bit tricky because the road is narrow, but anyone who’s happy with viewing from the car won’t get interrupted by much traffic.

Visited 24th August 2003: Cashtal yn Ard is one of the megalithic celebrities on Mann, so we approached it with some excitement. This turned out to be well placed, because the tomb is something special. I was still trying to get my head round the Manx tomb architecture, and this was the place to do it. If you had to see one tomb on the island, this should be the one.

The weather was good so we decided to have our picnic leaning against the forecourt stones near the tomb entrance. William loved the kinky portal stones and the square chambers, but I had to persuade him to be careful because some of the smaller stones moved when he clambered on them. Alfie crawled all over the place, and cruised round the monoliths, propping them up. It was a very relaxing visit.

Parking at the bottom of the lane is a bit tricky because there’s barely space to get two cars through. The gate by the road is on its last legs, and the gate into the tomb’s enclosure is unnecessarily small. There’s also a moderate incline up to the tomb, so wheelchair users and pushchair users beware.

Visited 24th August 2003: I spotted Ballafayle on the Ordnance Survey map, so we decided to take a look on our way to Cashtal yn Ard. Given the low profile the site has in the tourist leaflets and on the web we were surprised to find that there’s good access to the site, and quite a bit to see. This was my first proper Manx cairn, so I found it very puzzling.

The lane runs right past Ballafayle, with space for a car to park. Immediately opposite the cairn is Rullic Ny Quakern, a Keeill that was later used as a 17th Century Quaker burial ground. Access to from the road to both sites is unnecessarily hindered by low stone stiles.

Visited 24th August 2003: More of a drive-by than a visit. I planned to come back later on our holiday to climb Cronk Sumark, but access to the hill from the southern end of the island is hindered by the TT course, and with races on we ran out of time.

Visited 24th August 2003: We approached the stone from the north west(ish). It’s just about visible from the footpath, but I made a slight deviation to get a closer look at it (not a very accessible site).

Magher ny Clogh Mooar is a beautiful and strangely shaped monolith. Strikingly it has a large bulbous protuberance at its base. On the south side are diagonal stripes, which appear to be the natural strata of the stone. Magher ny Clogh Mooar stands on relatively flat land in the shadow of Slieau Curn between it and the sea. Not far from the standing stone lies a smaller flat rounded stone, severely damaged by ploughing. Whether or not this bears any relation to its neighbour I don’t know.

Visited 23rd August 2003: We stopped off at Ballalough on our way back from Douglas. The cairn’s on private land, but there’s a track running relatively close to it and you can a good view of it from there. This is one for enthusiasts only.

Visited 23rd August 2003: I’m still not sure whether this lump is what I was supposed to be looking for. Like its neighbour it looks relatively natural, but based on the view from the road I guess it may have been artificially re-shaped.

Visited 23rd August 2003: Approaching from the direction of Bride village, we came across a large hill next to the road. I decided it could reasonably be interpreted as one of the Bride Mounds, but I’m still not certain I found the right thing.

This lump doesn’t look very artificial, but as the mound stands on private ground I didn’t get a good look at it close up. I know very little about the Bride mounds, so the visit left me a bit perplexed. More research required I think.

Visited 23rd August 2003: We dutifully trekked off to St Bride’s to see the 19th Century church where Julian speculates there may have once stood a stone circle. The church itself is interesting, with two early crosses on display inside bearing Ogham inscriptions.

As for the churchyard and it’s orientation with the road junction, I’m afraid I can’t figure out how it indicates any kind of prehistoric link. A leap of faith is what’s required here, but I really can’t oblige. The church is worth a visit, but unless you have a vivid imagination, don’t expect any kind of megalithic satisfaction.

Visited 15th August 2003: Even less impressive than neighbouring Crug Cou this barrow is barely discerable. If you’re passing, and you have time on your hands, you might have fun trying to spot it.

Visited 15th August 2003: Looking for round barrows in this area is fairly un-rewarding. Despite having it’s name on the Ordnance Survey map, Crug Cou is not very well defined. Don’t go out of your way to see this barrow!

Visited 15th August 2003: I’ve not walked up to this fort but I’ve seen it many times from the road. It looks like there’s a distinctive winding path leading up to it on the south side. There were people coming down it when I took the photo, but I’ve no idea whether there’s public access or not.

The site was adapted into a motte and bailey castle during the Middle Ages (Castell Cadwaladr).

Visited 8th August 2003: More of a drie-by than a visit. Having been to The Longstone and Parc y Garreg I pursuaded Lou that this barrow was really worth trying to spot from the road. My main interest was it’s name, and that fact that it had a name.

The barrow can be viewed from the road that runs to the south east of it, but not the road to the west. There is also a possible henge just to the south (SN177122) but judging by the map this may now be underneath the road.

Visited 8th August 2003: Parc y Garreg is not visible from the road because of an enormous hedgerow. The field it stands in is not directly accessible from the road either, but is adjoined by a field that has a gate onto the road.

The stone stands close to a hedgerow that runs north-south, and when I visited it was surrounded by cattle. One heifer called 1-93 seemed to be particularly fond of the stone, and was clearly reluctant to budge just because I was there. Making the best of the situation I decided she would provide me with some scale for my photos (after all she did get there first).

Visited 8th August 2003: The Longstone sits in a field just south of the village. There’s no public footpath to the stone, but when we visited there were no crops in the field, so I wondered in to take a closer look at it.

The stone isn’t enormous, but it’s pale colouration makes it stand out from a distance. The field is surrounded by relatively tall hedges, so it’s almost impossible to spot it from the road. The power lines that run to the north of Longstone village dominate the skyline, and make for a contrasting backdrop to the stone.

Visited 2nd August 2003: Penrhos Feilw was the last site we visited on our August Ynys Môn day trip, and by the time we arrived the light was fading. I’d had visions of watching the setting sun from here, but a large cloud bank spoiled the view. Still, it was a good place to be.

What beautiful tall things these stones are. They aren’t as isolated as most of the photos suggest. There’s a farm house nearby, and a static caravan by the gate. There are also far too many telegraph and power cables in the area, tainting the views towards the west. I shouldn’t over emphasise these relatively minor intrusions. Penrhos Feilw is well worth a visit.

Visited 2nd August: Went to shop, got key. It’s not difficult you know! I can’t believe how many people are missing the key bit!

Barclodiad-y-Gawres is a strange contradiction of a site. It’s beautiful and it’s ugly. It’s moving, but someone has used the entrance as a urinal. Everyone who comes in while we’re there is amazed by the carvings, but there are T-lights and dead flowers scattered liberally around the place. The damp darkness inside and the salty fresh brightness outside are too much to cope with in quick succession.

After too much time in the cage we ended up on the beach with ice creams (as sold by Wayside General Stores).

Visited 2nd August 2003: Why is everyone in such a rush to get to Barclodiad-y-Gawres? This little cairn (or tumulus depending on who you ask) is on the way, and well worth the detour (a detour of about 3 meters from the footpath). The remains of a cist are clearly visible in the middle of what’s now a rather flattened mound.

NB. It’s tempting to keep stepping backwards trying to get a photo of the cairn with the sea behind it, but be careful of the quarry that has been dug just to the east of the site.

Visited 2nd August 2003: Even though we approached from the west, we went to see Trefwri (east) first. It’s not enormously tall, but pleasingly proportioned. It has quartz seams running along it’s length, and a heavy strata visible on the sides and top of the stone. It looks good and old. This Trefwri stone stands closer to Afon Braint than it’s neighbor.

Visited 2nd August 2003: After Trefwri (East) we doubled back to it’s bulky and broad neighbor, Trefwri (West). It’s not entirely clear whether this stone originally stood upright, or whether it’s always been longer than it is tall. In places it’s shot with brilliant quartz, but from a distance the stone looks a dumpy and dowdy. Like it’s partner, the location of the stone near the river (Afon Braint) is interesting.

Visited 2nd August 2003: We went on to Castell Bryn-Gwyn after Bryn-Gwyn Tre’r Dryw, by which time the sun had come out again. It was lunch time, so we had a picnic on top of one of the banks. After the food William and I played rolling down the bank. This is a great place to hang out, and I’d recommend it as a picnic spot.