Kammer

Visited July 1995: I rode to the circle on my trusty motorbike (now long gone) one evening when I was living in north Lancashire. It was only when I got to Bleasdale that I saw the sign about ringing up to get permission to see the circle.

Having come quite a long way to see the site, I decided to walk straight in (I figured it was too late to ring and get permission). It was great being there on my own, and I just ambled around enjoying the atmosphere and wondering what the place had been like originally.

Bleasdale Circle is very different to anything else I’ve visited. Next time I’m up in the north west I’d like to go back and pay it another visit, this time with my family and a decent camera!

Visited August 1997: With all the megalithic action going on in this area, the little old Barnhouse Stone gets a bit neglected, and looks a rather sorry for itself sitting in it’s enclosure.

I’m afraid I can’t remember much about how we got to the stone, or where we parked. I think the visit involved climbing over a gate and wondering across a field. Having looked at the map I’m guessing that there’s no footpath to the stone.

These stones are on one of my routes home, so I see them regularly. They are the best known and most easily accessible of a large number of Bronze Age standing stones in the area.

The Buwch a’r Llo (or cow and calf) stones are on the east side of the cattle grid and the Mynydd March stone is on the west side. All three stones are on the southern side of the road (i.e. on your right coming from Penrhyn Coch), and they are right next to the road.

Watch out for idiots driving scrambler motorbikes and 4x4s in this area. It feels relatively safe walking on the road, but the ‘off-road’ fraternity don’t tend to have their brains engaged when they drive along here.

This enormous stone was once part of the capstone of a large burial chamber. It now sits relatively inconspicuously in the centre of Llanbadarn Fawr where it is has been incorporated into the wall behind the war memorial.

It’s very easy to find the Garreg Fawr stone once you’ve found the war memorial. If you don’t know Llanbadarn, then you might miss the centre of the village if you’re driving in, because Llanbadarn boasts a (very small) by-pass road. Once you find a one way street with speed bumps on it, you know you’re nearly there. The stone is behind the war memorial when you have your back to the hairdresser’s (Hayley’s Hair Studio).

Thanks to Toby for consistently pointing this site out every time we stumbled out of the Gogerddan Arms. We took the mickey at the time, but here I am writing about it!

Visited 15th September 2002: It was the end of one of those September days when it feels like July. After an afternoon on the beach, William was asleep in the car, and Louise was about ready to join him. Instead of doing the decent thing and driving straight home, I insisted on paying a visit to the Disgwylfa Fach stone (it was on the way!).

I thought I’d seen the stone from the road on a previous visit, and it turned out that I had. There’s no footpath to the stone, but there are also no boundaries between the stone and the road, so I chanced it and walked. Between the road and the stone is a stream and lots of reeds, but I found a crossing point and got over without getting wet (possibly not the case if you visit in the winter).

Approaching the stone this way you head up-hill, and cross a disused medieval leat that looks like an old cart track. Then you pass a number of rocky outcrops before you reach the stone itself.

The Disgwylfa Fach Stone leans approximately east, and has an interesting grain to it, so that the ‘top’ is roughly indented. There are some packing stones visible at the base of the stone, and another small stone lies to the north (possibly a dislodged packing stone).

The views from the stone are beautiful, mainly because there is so little to see (just upland pasture). It took me about 30 minutes to make the journey from the road to the stone and back (Louise was sat in the car waiting, so I rushed it a bit) and in that time only one car came past.

I should mention that, while I had a relatively easy walk to the stone (I’m no Indiana Jones), I wouldn’t recommend my route to anyone who might have difficulties with jumping the stream or navigating tall reeds and uneven ground.

Visited 26th August 2002: Having dragged everyone around the countryside looking for non-existent standing stones, I had Bedd Taliesin tucked up my sleeve as the grande finale of the day. I had never visited the site before, but I knew the stones were small (smaller than they look in some photos). I warned everyone not to expect too much ‘mega’ in their lithic.

When we arrived at the cairn, everyone including me was surprised at how small the stones are! The cist is really diddy, and it made me chuckle when I thought about Rhiannon’s story about spending a night in the chamber. I think you might well go mad if you managed to squeeze yourself into such a tight space, but you’d get cramp first.

The cairn is beautifully situated, with views of the Dyfi Estuary and Aberdyfi. The weather was also excellent, but it was all a bit marred by a big stack of smelly silage that the farmer had stacked in the next door field. Well worth a visit though.

Visited 8th September 2002: This Bronze Age standing stone is very easy to find, because someone has conveniently built a churchyard around it!

We entered the churchyard through an iron gate, and I began scouring the area for a sign of the stone. Louise was a bit more canny than me, and spotted it right there by the gate! To be fair, it’s not what we were expecting, because someone has concreted a sundial to the top of the stone! This is one of the weirdest adaptations of a megalith that I’ve seen so far.

St Tyssilio’s church is an early Celtic Christian site, with the compulsory holy well (nearby) and round churchyard. Judging by the standing stone, it was a ceremonial site long before it was Christianised. There’s a notice near the churchyard gate that explains some of the history of the church, and according to this a second megalith was discovered during the 1890s during work on the church itself. This stone was so big that they left it in place and built over it!

Visited 7th September 2002: Neither of these stones is now standing, and there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether they are Bronze Age standing stones, marker stones, or just conveniently placed lumps of rock. Similarly, although they share a name, there may be no connection between the two stones.

That’s the scepticism over with. I think that these two stones could be the real thing (i.e. Bronze Age standing stones) based on their proximity to the river and the meeting of two routes through the mountains. The stones are named after the nearby lake, which is a 19th century lead and silver mining reservoir.

The smaller of the two Pond Nant y Cagal Stones is to the south (SN72709034) and is accessible via a footpath that has been churned up by 4x4s. The path crosses the road, and you can park up almost at this point. Follow the footpath southeast (i.e. not in the direction of the lake) for a few hundred yards and you’ll come to the stone on your left. It’s not very big, so don’t start out looking for a gigantic monolith!

The larger of the two stones (to the north) is adjacent to a cattle grid. You could park by the cattle grid if you wanted to, but we just walked up from the other stone. This second stone is a large lump of white quartz, which sits conspicuously on the hillside to the west of the road (to the south of the perimeter fence that runs down to the cattle grid). You can clamber up to the stone, but it’s a bit steep, so not ideal if you’re not feeling agile (like Lou, who is 8 months pregnant). The views from up there are beautiful though, with the lake and Pumlumon making a stunning backdrop.

I’d recommend visiting these stones if you’re passing through, or if you’re very enthusiastic about standing stones, but not if you’re looking to visit a site that is still intact.

Visited 1st September 2002: I first spotted the Garn Lwyd standing stone on the 1:25000 OS map when I was planning a visit to Hirnant Circle just up the road. The stone is very small, and stands next to a cairn of the same name.

There’s no public right of way to the site itself, but the cairn is relatively easy to identify from the road if you have a map (it’s almost in line with the telegraph pole that has the number 23 on it). Once you’ve spotted the cairn you can just about see the stone from the road. It’s between the cairn and the perimeter fence, but it’s less than a metre high so you’ll have to look hard for it in amongst the reeds.

It’s worth noting that the OS Landranger map only marks the cairn itself, and although the 1:25,000 OS map has the stone marked on it, it’s placed too far north (at least that’s the only conclusion I could come to).

Garn Lwyd is the name of the cairn next to the stone, but it’s also shared by all the cairns in this group. The word garn means cairn in Welsh and lywd means sacred.

I’ve visited Hirnant a couple of times before. Yesterday I thought I’d pop up again after work and get some photos, but by the time we got there (about 8pm) it was nearly dark, so the end result isn’t very good.

The field that the circle sits in is covered in a type of reed that is common around here, to the extent that (at this time of year) the stones are almost entirely obscured by undergrowth. I guess this is what Grendel was referring to in his last post.

Like Dolgamfa to the south, Hirnant is situated on a plateau above the Rheidol gorge (now partially flooded by the Dinas Reservoir). The name Hirnant means long stream in English, so there may be some echo of a connection between the river and the monument that has lasted down the years. As with Dolgamfa there are beautiful views of the surrounding hills from the circle.

Visited 26th August 2002: The Cwmere Farm Stone is off the beaten track, on a loop road that runs from the village of Cwmere to Bont-Goch. You can approach it by car from either end, but from Bont-Goch the road is gated.

The stone is marked on the Ordnance Survey map, so it’s not too tricky to find. You can see it from the road (on the right coming from Cwmere) and there’s just about space to park a car (in a passing place opposite the gate to the field that the stone is in).

There’s no footpath to the stone, but we decided to exercise our right-to-roam (perhaps a bit prematurely), and take a closer look. If you decide to do the same, please act responsibly, and be courteous to the farmer if he turns up (I’m probably preaching to the converted here).

The stone itself is striking, with a distinctive taper to it. There are smaller recumbent stones nearby, but they don’t appear to be positioned in any way.

We visited the Tibblestone on 4th August 2002, on our way back to Wales after a two week holiday. That day we had squeezed in visits to five other sites in the Cotswolds, despite having not started until lunchtime. Basically we were knackered, and there were still two hours of driving left before we could sleep (except for William who was already asleep).

When we found the Tibblestone I thought it looked a bit lost in it’s surroundings. It’s situated right next to an Esso petrol station with the access road to the petrol station running on the other side of it. In other words, it shares an island of grass with the big Esso sign that has the petrol prices on it.

Across the road is the Teddington Hands pub, so perhaps next time we’re in the area we’ll pay that a visit, and add something here under ‘facilities’.

We visited this stone, and it’s neighbour, in August 1997 in scorching weather. At both sites we were plagued by savage horseflies, that made the visit less relaxing than we’d hoped for.

The cup marked stone is the first of the two that you get to coming from Kinloch, and it’s on the left-hand side of the road under some tress.

The RCAHMS database has this to say about this site:

“A large, earth-fast boulder 5ft long as far as is exposed and 3ft 10ins broad, bearing on the upper surface 18 cup marks of various depths of which the most distinct, 3ins in diameter and 1in deep, is towards the N. The whole length of the stone is not visible but the markings do not seem to extend to the covered portion.”

I think it was the unusually hot weather that brought the hungry horseflies out, so you’ll probably be alright if you visit when the weather is more Scottish.

We visited this stone (and it’s neighbour) in August 1997 and were attacked by horseflies as soon as we got there. It was like something out a B-movie. We were on my motorbike, so we ended up keeping all our gear on to avoid getting bitten. It was stupidly hot though, so stomping around the heather with our leathers and crash helmets on, we were boiling.

The stone is on the left-hand side of the road coming from Kinloch, and it’s not too tricky to find.

Here’s what the RCAHMS database has to say about the stone:

“An incised stone, 1.9m long and 0.2m deep, found during field investigation. It lies N-S and measures 0.9m across at the N end, tapering to 0.5m at the S.”

“The marks incised upon this stone bear no relationship to known Pictish or Early Christian symbols; they form no cohesive pattern or identifiable shapes.”

Strangely, no mention of horse flies on the database.

We visited Orkney in July 1997, and made straight for Stennes and Brodgar when we arrived. I was immensely moved by Stennes, which must have once been the most significant megalithic site on Orkney, and still is the most beautiful. The vibes the place gave off were only comparable to Calanais on Lewis.

I proposed to Louise at Stennes, because it seemed like the right place to do it. Five years on I want to go back there and see the stones again. Perhaps we’ll make it soon, with our son William and our, as yet, un-born child [Alfie].

I can’t believe how few people have posted information to this part of the Web site. If you’re considering a trip to Orkney, I can say with all honesty that, for me at least, Stennes justified the trip in itself.

Visited 4th August 2002: Not a very magical site, or it certainly wasn’t when we visited. Still, if you like your megaliths to be within walking distance of an ice-cream van, then you’ll love Nympsfield.

We visited on 4th August 2002, and had trouble finding the stone because it was just over the edge of our map!

When we got there we parked at the gate near the stone, under the watchful gaze of a police officer wearing fluorescents. He was directing traffic to some sort of equestrian show on the other side of the road. We half expected to be arrested for trespass, or climbing over a gate without due care and attention, but rather disappointingly he just stood there looking bored.

I don’t think there is a footpath to the stone, but I guess we have the ‘right to roam’ there. I’ll have to read up on this and find out how the Law stands on this sort of thing.

Visited 4th August 2002: When we pulled up at the recommended footpath to Belas Knap (as signposted) it was threatening rain and the light was fading. The accounts posted to this site of treacherous walks to the barrow made us think twice about taking the approved route (Louise is 7 months pregnant, and William is only three).

From the Landranger map we figured that there was an easier footpath to the barrow, so we drove round to the other side. This didn’t take long. Towards the end of this detour we passed some farm buildings, then followed an un-made track to the point where the footpath to Belas Knap starts and the track itself begins to narrow. There are no signs to say that this is a private track, and from the Landranger we inferred that the track is a public right of way.

The footpath started at a point where there is enough space to park one or two cars on the verge without blocking the track, so we parked up and walked from there. Apart from the rain, this worked out really well because the footpath is straight and level. I’d recommend this route to anyone who might have difficulties with the gradient on the approved route.

Sorry that these directions are a bit vague, but I don’t have the map with me to refer back to. If you can get hold of a map, you’ll be able to see where we went (the footpath we took is straight, the other is windy and goes through a forest).

Dolgamfa (pronounced doll-gam-va) is a small site about half a mile to the west of Ysbytty Cynfyn on the other side of the Rheidol Gorge.

The site is usually described (by the learn-ed) as a kerb or ring cairn, and is similar to the Hirnant just up the road.

At Dolgamfa the grading of the stones is very marked. The taller stones may be aligned with another site or celestial object, but if this is the case I can’t identify it. I wonder whether the stones in the circle were intended to be visible rather than buried under the cairn?

You can get to the circle from Ysbytty Cynfyn by crossing over Parson’s Bridge. You can also walk in from the village of Ystumtuen. Both routes are relatively short as the crow flies, but from Ysbytty Cynfyn you have to walk down into the gorge then back up again, which is a bit of a climb.

The footpath is well marked coming from both directions, but the Dolgamfa Circle itself isn’t marked on the footpath signs where they meet the road, so you may find a map re-assuring. Parking is not a problem whichever route you choose, and it might even be possible to get the bus from Aberystwyth if you’re cunning.

Visited 4th August 2002: Windmill Tump (aka Rodmaron Long Barrow) isn’t sign-posted, so you’ll probably need an Ordnance Survey Map to find it. This Neolithic long barrow is south of road between Rodmarton and Cherington.

You can park in a lay-by near the gate (ST934975), then you’ll have to climb over the gate or squeeze through the gap (if you’re thin) to get into the field. From the road there is no signage, but I’ve checked this out with Gloucestershire County Council, and according to them there is public access to the site.

You can clearly see the barrow from the gate, with it’s own fence surrounding it in the field. The path along the side of the field is very well kept and follows the hedge (unmarked on the Landranger) almost all the way to the barrow. There’s one more gate (this time not locked) then you’re there.

Apparently the barrow was crudely excavated in the 19th Century, and the remains of 10 adults and 3 children were found. You can still see the exploratory ditches that were dug.

The barrow has a false entrance and two unusual porthole entrances. I could only find one of these portholes on the north side [or at least that’s what I thought it was], presumably because most of the grass on the barrow is uncut. From photos I’ve seen of the other porthole, it’s quite small.

The chamber that I found is really obvious, and here you can peer in under a very low capstone. My three year old son William could probably have got into the chamber, but I was worried we might not get him out!

The barrow feels remarkably secluded, even though the walk to the road is less than half a mile. Having gone there expecting nothing very special, I was pleasantly surprised. Well worth a visit!

If you visit Ysbytty Cynfyn, you’ll probably approach from the direction of the A4120, the road between Ponterwyd and Pontarfynach (Devil’s Bridge). This is the obvious way to get there, but if you’ve got some time on your hands, and you’re happy walking a few miles, try approaching from the west. This route gives you a real sense of pilgrimage, taking you past Dolgamfa and across the Rheidol gorge before reaching Ysbytty Cynfyn. The footpath is very well sign-posted (as Ceredigion footpaths go) but a map would be useful.

Starting from the village of Ystumtuen, follow the footpath north-east, past some old mine shafts and a small disused mining reservoir. The path continues through a distinctive saddle shape in the hillside. From the top you can see the bell tower of the church at Ysbytty Cynfyn. As well as being good geographical feature for navigating on foot the pass may have had symbolic significance to the people who built Ysbytty Cynfyn and Dolgamfa.

From here you head down-hill before reaching Dolgamfa, which sits on a small plateau about half way down the hill. There are good views across the Rheidol valley from here. Between Dolgamfa and Ysbytty Cynfyn is the river gorge, which is hidden from view by the ancient oak forest.

Heading downhill from Dolgamfa you pass a farmstead and enter the forest (the trickiest terrain on the walk). At the bottom of the slope is the gorge (very impressive in the winter) and the crossing point, Parson’s Bridge. The bridge (originally not much more than a log) is traditionally associated with a priest who worked between Ystumtuen and Ysbytty Cynfyn. I suspect that this crossing point dates back a lot further than this, possibly connecting the two megalithic sites when they were in use.

From Parson’s Bridge it’s an uphill climb to get out of the gorge, and the forest. The path goes up a small hill before dropping down to Ysbytty Cynfyn itself.