Kammer

I rang up Wayside Stores this afternoon, to see whether access was still possible. They told me that, as of this year, they no longer hold a key. Apparently Cadw are running occasional open days though.

K x

At 9.5 metres, Kerloas Menhir is the tallest standing stone to remain erect. In the English Edition of The Megaliths of Brittany (ISBN: 2-87747-063-6) Jacques Briard states that the stone was originally over 10 metres high, but the tip was struck off during a thunder storm “some centuries ago”, bits landing in a nearby farm. At it’s base the menhir has two very feminine looking lumps. The stone is granite, and is thought to have been transported 3km from L’Aber Ildut.

I rang the National Trust today to ask if it might be possible to visit the chamber. I was told that the land around it is used by Chesire County Council for childrens’ outdoor activities, and is therefor out of bounds for National Trust Visitors. The argument is that it’s unsafe for members of the public to be given free access to an area where children are playing!

I gather that it doesn’t matter whether schools are using the land at the time of a proposed visit or not. The agreement has been entered into between the National Trust and Chesire County Council, and it is apparently inflexible. What has the world come to?!

This site is described in the National Monument Record (accessible via Coflein and Historic Wales as a megalithic structure/summer house and is classified “Early Medieval?“. The following text is given as the site description:

A peculiar ‘megalithic’ structure set on a low hillock overlooking and to the W of Dolbadarn Castle.

It is primarily defined by two large orthostatic slabs set parallel to each other some 3m apart forming two sides of a square structure which has low pillars at each corner. Contiguous with the NE corner pillar is a larger 2m high squarish ‘standing stone’. Numerous other blocks lie scattered about and the whole area is raised some 0.5m above the surrounding hillside.

The eight figure grid reference for the site is SH58455977, and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 300841.

The word ‘wraig’ is mutated from ‘gwraig’, which means woman or wife.

The cairn to the north is a ring cairn, and it’s labelled Carn Saith-Wraig on the old Ordnance Survey maps. The cairn to the south is a badly damaged round cairn, and it is unlabelled on the maps. On the National Monument Record it carries name Saith-Wraig, Round Cairn but I suspect this is by association with its neighbour.

The reason I mention all this is that you can’t have the name ‘Carn Saith-Wraig’ for more than one cairn. The word ‘carn’ means cairn, not cairns. The plural is ‘Carneddau’, so if both sites shared the name they would collectively be called ‘Carneddau Saith-Wraig’... I think.

A description from Coflein implies that Llech Ciste is interpretted, not as a stone row, but as a standing stone with other (suspect?) stones around it:

A white quartz stone, 2.8m long by 1.0m wide by 0.8m thick, now semi-recumbent, having other stones, or boulders, associated with it. The site is no longer considered to represent the remains of a burial chamber.

The name Llech Ciste implies a single stone, the word ‘llech’ being singular. Presumably the word ‘ciste’ is to do with the site being interpretted as a burial chamber.

The eight figure grid reference for the site is SN51422832, and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 303977.

The eight figure grid reference for this site is SH26647888 according to Coflein.

It’s described as, “an undressed, erect monolith, 1.6m high by 1.4m by 1.4m”. The National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 302269 in case anyone wants to run a search for it.

Coflein lists the mysterious looking stones that lie near Tinkinswood, but doesn’t go so far as to say anything definate:

A variety of stones, to the E & SE of Tinkinswood Cairn (Nprn94510), that have variously been described as standing stones &/or chambered tombs...

Generally described as being non-natural features.

A note by J Wiles in the National Monument Record (NMR), available via Coflein, describes Maen Catwg as,

A roughly rectangular prostrate stone, 2.6m by 1.7m and 0.6m thick. There are 33-50 cup-marks on the upper surface of the stone, which has been suggested to have been the capstone of a collapsed megalithic chamber.

The NMR also describes a second cupmarked stone discovered in 1990 by T Driver (him again) in a pile of cleared boulders in a field near Maen Cattwg. The record states that, “the present status of the second carved stone is not known”. I think that means they lost it.

The eight figure grid reference given for Maen Catwg is ST12709742 and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 93097.

The Sarn-y-Bryn Caled timber circle was initially identified as a cropmark in grass field (there was nothing of the circle visible on the surface). The site consisted of a circular setting of 20 post pits with a diameter of about 17m, with some disturbance at the centre in the alluvial plain of the River Severn.

In 1990 the site was totally excavated by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) in advance of the construction of the Welshpool Relief Road.

Described by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust as a ‘circular feature’ (Reference: 3633), this site is by no means a definate prehistoric hut circle.

The National Monument Record, available via Coflein, gives an extremely brief description of Cefn Graenog Cairn II:

A mutilated cairn, c.18m in diameter and 1.0m high. Recently consolidated.

The eight figure grid reference given for the cairn is SH45504913 and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 93559.

The National Monument Record, available via Coflein, gives a very brief description of Cefn Graenog, Cairn I:

A round cairn, 9.45m in diameter and 0.8m high, kerbed by stones up to 0.6m high, overlain by a current field wall on the SE.

The eight figure grid reference given for the cairn is SH45514918 and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 93558.

The National Monument Record, available via Coflein, describes Graeanog Standing Stone thus:

An erect monolith, 3.05m high by 0.9m by 0.68m, set 7.0m SE of a kerbed cairn (Nprn93558), with a second cairn (Nprn93559), c.35m SSW.

The eight figure grid reference given for the stone is SH45524917 and the National Primary Record Number (NPRN) is 93557.

It’s worth noting that there’s a duplicate record for this site (NPRN: 302389) listed on Coflein. In other words what appears to be two standing stones is in fact one.

Alongside Taly-y-Braich Cairn is a standing stone, thought by some to be the possible remains of a stone circle that encompassed the cairn. Coflein describes the two sites (listed seperately):

Burial cairn, probably Bronze Age, on the lower south-west facing slopes of Cwm Tal-y-braich. Circular stone built cairn, measuring c. 9m in diameter and up to 0.6m in height. Has been disturbed in the past, with a small hollow visible in its centre.

Standing stone measuring 0.9m in height by 0.75m in width and 0.35m in thickness. The stone leans towards the west – may be the sole surviving upright of a stone circle originally surrounding the cairn (NPRN 302997), though positions of the possible remaining stones not conclusive.

The eight figure grid reference given for the cairn is SH70526080.

I’ve not visited this site, but I stumbled across the following description of the cist on Coflein:

Burial cist, probably Bronze Age, on the lower south-west facing slopes of Cwm Tal-y-braich. A stone built subrectangular cist measuring c. 1.9m from north-east to south-west by c. 0.9m transversely within several large earthfast orthostats up to 0.3m in height. Cist has been disturbed in the past, with what is probably a large capstone lying immediately to the north-west, resting at an angle on the orthostat at the south-west end.

The eight figure grid reference given is SH70606081.

A report in the National Monument Record (available via Coflein) gives a brief description of Caer Allt-Goch:

An enclosure set uopn [sic] & about the summit of an isolated hilltop knoll: the enclosure, 140m north-east to south-west by 40m, tapering to the south-west, is defined by a single bank on the north-east...

The author of the above is J Wiles, who also suggests that there is evidence of mining at Allt-Goch.

A report by Toby Driver in the National Monument Record (available through Coflein) describes Caer Lletty-Llwyd as, “a triangular hillfort”, although it’s described elsewhere as oval in plan.

Driver also alludes to the original entrance to the fort:

The position of the original gateway is uncertain, suggesting the open parts of the hillfort have been altered in the past through cultivation or improvement. The gate may have lain on the north side where an oblique track gives access to the monument today.

The National Monument Record, available through Coflein describes Hen Gaer in quite a bit of detail:

Hen Gaer is a strong and imposing fortress, commanding panoramic views over the lowland basins north of the Rheidol, north to Caer Pwll Glas and beyond to the Dyfi Estuary. The fort is of massive construction. Carefully laid stone blocks of original rampart walling can be seen exposed on the northeast side. The rampart measures about 12m wide overall and still stands in places to a height of 3-4m (Hogg, Cardiganshire County History 1994, 264), with an outer rock-cut ditch (best visible on the northeast).

Hen Gaer is unusual in that part of the rampart encloses a considerable hillslope to the south, avoiding a more level summit position to the north, which must have made the construction of houses in the southern part very difficult. One possible explanation of this non-utilitarian siting is that the fort had a role to command the ridge, but also to exert a degree of influence over, and to remain highly visible from, the restricted lowland basin at the confluence of the Afon Stewi and Silo to the south.

The author of the above is Toby Driver, local hillfort expert.

An erect monolith, 1.4m high by 0.6m by 0.6m, leaning to the SW & tapering.

Source: OS 495 Card from RCAHMW records.

A leaning, but erect pointed slab, 3.1m high by 1.5m by 0.3m.

Source: OS 495 Card from RCAHMW records.

The handy little book Cornwall’s Archaeological Heritage (ISBN 090629452-5) gives a brief description of the Mount:

The Mount is likely to be Ictus, the Iron Age tin trading station recorded by Diodorus Siculus. Recent discoveries of a copper ingot and amphora sherds (5th-6th centuries AD) show it was important in the Post Roman period – a south coast Tintagel Castle.

The National Monument Record suggests this isn’t a prehistoric standing stone.

Standing stone bearing the date 1721 with a cross, the only other inscription is the date 1778. The stone was erected in 1721.

However, the record is categorised as Period: Unknown which suggests there may be some ambiguity.

An obscure page on the Kilmartin House web site describes Upper Largie as follows:

The site consisted of four cists and four other features (two of which may have been cists) which were situated on the summit of a gravel terrace near Kilmartin. Out of these one cist was repositioned after excavation but was later partly covered by a layby and is now largely overgrown, and the other cists are no longer apparent.

The site also states that, “this site is on private land and permission should be sought.”

The easiest way to see something from Upper Largie is to visit Kilmartin House where one of the cists has been reconstructed.

The National monument Record (available via Pastmap) describes the site in the following way:

The stone circle lies a short distance W of M’Lellan’s croft, on a remnant of a raised beach and about 70ft from the high water mark, on the N shore of Loch Seaforth.
There are seven stones visible, set on the circumference of a circle about 54ft in diameter. Two stones, 4ft 3ins and 5ft 6ins high, are free-standing, one has been broken, and the others have been incorporated in walls.
The keeper, who has been on the place more than 50 years, thinks that there were at least 4 large flat stones lying near the centre. A stone, 4 1/2ins thick, built into a recent wall, may be one of them; there is another inside the sheep-pen.

This account is dated 1936. The eight figure grid reference given for ‘Fangs’ is NB27811662.

In Issue 147 (page 98) of Current Archaeology (published 1996), there’s an article describing the discovery of Druim Dubh. This is the taster:

A new stone circle has been discovered at Druim Dubh on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. . Local archaeologist Margaret Curtis describes how she discovered the circle while travelling to Stornoway on the bus to do her shopping, and scanning the countryside: and there it was, a fallen stone circle sitting in peat cutting, beside the road!

A terribly constructed paragraph, but it serves it’s purpose.

If you’re planning on visiting Stournaway (and most people do) why not visit the mysterious Stone 10 that once made up part of Cnoc Ceann a’Gharraidh.

Incidentally, according to Margaret Ponting the name Cnoc Ceann a’Gharraidh is pronounced ‘kroc kyain a gaa-ree’.

In The Stones Around Callanish (ISBN: 0 903960 67 2) the Pontings give an account of the strange history of this stone.

It was first described in 1857 when John Lynton Palmer surveyed Cnoc Ceann a’Gharraidh (aka Callanish II) and in 1858 John Stuart drew the circle and Stone 10, claiming that the latter had possible Ogham script on it (not something taken very seriously now). At some stage subsequently the stone disappeared from the site, removed to Stournaway for its protection. The Pontings set out to find out what had happened to it:

Sir James Matheson had the stone erected opposite Creed Lodge gates... It remained standing there for about 60 years. In 1919, while the walls of the castle grounds were being repaired after wartime neglect, the stone was partially broken up for building material. The workmen concerned were severely reprimanded for this action.

The Pontings suggest that the boulder that now situated opposite Creed Lodge (NB4047032617) may be the remains of Stone 10.

The significance of Cnoc Sgeir na h-Uidhe (aka Callanish XIV) is hypothesised in the book The Stones Around Callanish (ISBN: 0 903960 67 2) by the Pontings:

...the chief interest of this site is that the small erect stone is east of the circle at Callanish I. Thus for an observer at the main site, sunrise occurs directly above site XIV at the equinox.

Despite being an obvious suspect, Cliacabhaigh was first recorded relatively recently in a 1976 edition of Discovery and Excavation in Scotland. It is not yet scheduled.

In the excellent book The Stones Around Callanish (ISBN: 0 903960 67 2) by the Pontings is a description of the stone and a pe-vanadlism photo. Margaret Curtis (née Ponting) interprets it as part of the complex, possibly serving a processional function:

...it is 800 metres from he central stone at the main site; at an azimuth of just 1 degree, it is very close to due north and is in direct line with the central megalith and the central row. As seen from this stone, the moon would have transited low over the horizon when at its southernmost extreme.

Margaret has identified two other stones nearby which may have once been standing. One is in the field wall, and the other lies on private land nearby, almost entirely covered in peat.

The National Monument Record makes Carnan a’Ghrodhair seem rather more sexy than it is on the ground:

A souterrain was found during the last war during the construction of a Home Guard gun emplacement or look-out post.
When digging the foundations the workmen struck a flagged floor with a large stone in the middle which, when removed, revealed a passage-way leading down at an angle a distance of some 20 to 30ft before opening out into a beehive cell about 6 or 7ft high... About 35ft east of the emplacement there was a slight de- pression with possibly a few stones in it, which seemed to mark the site of the cell.

Mind you, it does warn you that, “the entrance to this souterrain, within the look-out post, is almost fully blocked with rubbish, making access to the chamber impossible”. Apparently the passage was still discernable in 1969.

The following text is an excerpt from the 1989 edition of Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (page 44) describing the circle:

Snizert Parish
NG386596 Stone Circle
Situated a third of a mile south of the Cuiderach road, and 20m SE of a telegraph pole at a height of c40m. Below a small knoll and in boggy ground is a circular setting of 4 upright and two recumbent stones. It measures 3.4m NE to SW and c3.2m NW to SE, with stones standing to a maximum height of 1.1m. Where no surface stones appear to indicate breaks in the circle, probing has located stones now buried at these points.

This site is not on the NMR.

The NMR, available via the PastMap web site, describes the stones at Borve:

Stone Circle (Remains), Clachan Erisco
There are three erect stones forming a very flat curve, the axis of the extreme stones running NW-SE. The stone to the E, an irregular six-sided prism, is 6ft high and 6 1/2ft in girth at the ground; the central stone, 13 3/4ft distant, is 5 1/2ft in height, 3ft 2ins in breadth and 13ins thick; while the third stone, 13 1/2ft further on to the NW, measures 3 1/4ft in height, 2ft 8ins in width and 15ins in thickness; the two latter are set up radially. In the line of the curve formed by these three stones, at a distance of 21ft 10ins to the NW, is a fourth stone 1 1/2ft high, 2ft 4ins broad and 11 ins thick, which may have been one of the component parts of the ring of stones.

In the immediate neighbourhood are three prostrate monoliths, which possibly had formed part of the circle, as no other stones of their magnitutude or appearnace are to be found in the adjoining drystone dykes. One of these is built into a dyke about 20ft to the W of the standing stones and measures 6ft long, 2ft broad and 12ins thick; another lying within two yards of it is 4 1/2ft long, 1 1/2ft broad; and the third, on the opposite side of the road 50 yards to the E, is 5ft 2ins long, about 2ft in breadth and 8ins thick.

The NMR, available via the MAGIC web site, describes the Alderley Edge Copper Mine:

The copper has been extracted at this location from the Bronze Age to the 19th century. The underlying sandstone is known as Engine Vein conglomerate.

The eastern half of the site is a steep-sided canyon formed by successive periods of opencast cutting down into the fault line and thereby forming an opencut about 15m deep. The floor of the trench has been capped with concrete to make it safer for the public and so the present floor is about 8m from the surface. The cutting of this deep trench has bisected several shallow pits which were formed by miners using stone hammers to extract the copper nodules. This shallow open pit working dates from the Bronze Age and creates characteristic peck marks in the rock face which may be compared with examples from Europe and the Near East. In addition, many broken and discarded stone axe-hammers have been found at and near the site over the last 100 years.

These are formed from hard river pebbles with a groove pecked around the centre to attach a handle. These are also comparable with examples from both Israel and Spain which are associated with Bronze Age workings. Evidence for Roman mining at ground level and below the surface has also been recorded at this site. A bisected shaft with an inclined access and rock-cut notches for a possible windlass mounting are visible on the northern side at SJ86077747.

These represent Roman or possibly medieval mine workings. In the canyon side below the Bronze Age surface workings there are rock faces representing hand-picked extraction dating from mining operations from the medieval period through to the early 18th century and also traces of cobalt and copper extraction by the blasting which was happening from 1857. Other rock-cut features are now hidden from view by the concrete cap in the floor of the trench.

The eight figure grid reference given is SJ86037748.

The NMR, available via the MAGIC web site, describes the Armada Beacon:

The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a stone-built beacon platform on the summit of Beacon Hill, Alderley Edge. The earthen mound on which it has been constructed is considered to have been a bowl barrow of Bronze Age date. This barrow mound is large and may have been augmented when the beacon was constructed on the summit.

The mound is of earth with some stone incorporated in the structure. It stands approximately 3m above ground level and is 25m wide at the base. The top of the mound was levelled for the foundations of a stone building to support the beacon with its fire basket and to store material such as pitch for the fire itself. This building was constructed in the 16th century and restored in 1799 on the foundations of the original building. The beacon building was blown down in 1931 and today only the foundations survive.

The eight figure grid reference given is SJ85847773.

The description in the NMR for Maen-y-Parc (available through Coflein) includes three stones, imaginatively labelled A, B and C:

Heights are between 1.6 – 2.3m. B and C are built into field walls.
Local placename, Clyn Saith Maen, refers to seven standing stones.

Collectively all three stone appear to be called the ‘Gate Standing Stones’, presumably after the farm to the south. The eight figure grid reference given for Maen-y-Parc ‘B’ is SN11173022 and for Maen-y-Parc ‘C’ is SN11173020.

The description in the NMR for Maen-y-Parc (available through Coflein) includes three stones, imaginatively labelled A, B and C:

Heights are between 1.6 – 2.3m. B and C are built into field walls.
Local placename, Clyn Saith Maen, refers to seven standing stones.

Not exactly a detailed description of the site. Presumably Maen-y-Parc ‘A’ is the stone that’s 2.3 metres high. Collectively all three stone appear to be called the ‘Gate Standing Stones’, presumably after the farm to the south. The eight figure grid reference given for Maen-y-Parc ‘A’ is SN11133032.

The NMR record (available through Coflein) describes the fort:

A substantial and irregular hilltop enclosure, 579m by up to 187m, defined by a bank and ditch above steep slopes, except to the W, where there are three-four banks and ditches, incorporating a torturous entrance approach.
RB material of the l.1st-2nd C. has been found here.

The NMR record (available through Coflein) gives an account of the alternative names of the chambers, but not a description of the chambers themselves:

There appear to be two discrete tombs here, however the name Bwrdd Arthur is common to both. The more westerly tomb (Dat Prn1698) is also known as Gwaly Filiast, the more easterly (Dat Prn1699) is named for the mountain.

The eight figure grid reference cited on Coflein is SN48541328.

The NMR record (available through Coflein) describes Meinillwydion as a stone pair:

Two erect monoliths, 30m appart. The northern stone is known as ‘the pulpit’. Further stones are noted in the vicinity.

The Landranger Ordnance Survey map implies that there are four stones, and from the road three are visible. The eight figure grid reference cited on Coflein is SN43181019.

Meini Hirion gets no more than a mention on Coflein, but it’s position (SN41210833) suggests a relationship with Afon Gwendraeth. The remains of an Bronze Age/Iron Age enclosure called Penlan Ucha stand nearby (SN41250834).

There’s a bridlepath running to the west of the stone so access may not be too tricky.

At the time of writing, Coflein has no record for this site, but it’s marked on the 1891 Ordnance Survey map as “Maen Llwyd”. A later version of the same map available through Coflein Mapping (undated) has the site marked as “Maen Llwyd (site of)“.

Maen Llwyd stood just below the gentle ridge that runs between Afon Towy and Afon Gwendraetheast. It seems likely that the locations of this stone and it’s neighbour Is-Coed bear some relation with the water courses that run past them.

The NMR record (available through Coflein) gives a very brief description of Carn Owen:

Summit cairn, 12m in diameter, rather amorphous, having shelters constructed in centre and over SW perimeter; small satelite cairns have been noted to the NE.

The author of this text is local archaeologist Stephen Briggs (not his most verbose work).

The NMR record (available through Coflein) describes Disgwylfa Fawr and the notorious canoe type things that were found inside it:

Cairn upon the summit of Disgwylfa Fawr, c.20m in diameter & 3.0m high: trenching, in 1937, reported a ring of slab-stones within the body of the mound, within which were found two dugout tree-trunks of oak, 2.4-2.7m & 1.08m long, these subsequently yielded radio-carbon datescentring on 1910BC & 1350BC respectively; within the smaller dugout were cremated human bones, a flint blade & a ceramic vessel, covered by an animal skin.

The author of this text is the venerable Stephen Briggs.

Coflein has decided to start working again (if it had been working on Friday then I wouldn’t have been walking round in circles looking for this circle yesterday!) and here’s what it has to say about Y Capel:

Circle of 54 stones, 38 of which were visible in 1980, the remainder being confirmed by probing, one stand over 0.4m high.

The all important bit of information I was missing is the eight figure grid reference: SH99950005

Described by Coflein as an enclosure,

c.22m in diameter, with opposing NW and SE entrances, variously described as enclosing unspecified lesser enclosures c.1.8-3.0m in diameter, or ‘two small hut platforms’.

The NMR (available through Coflein) describes the site as, “a much disturbed disturbed cairn, 13m in diameter and 0.4m high, showing kerbstones to the NE (3) and S (1)“. This doesn’t really do the place justice.

The NMR (available through Coflein) describes the circle, alluding to the legend of Fowler the giant:

A degraded possible stone circle, 13m in diameter, represented by four stones, one of them erect. the eponymous stone, named for a local giant (but see Nprn305882) lies within the circle.

The record referred to as Nprn305882 is the arm chair itself (strangely not available through Coflein).

Coflein describes Crugyn-LLwyd as, “A cairn, 27.4m in diameter and 1.8m high, set on the crest of a mountain ridge, acting as a boundary mark”. Not especially informative. It also assigns the site to a period ‘unknown’, despite the obvious likelihood that it’s Bronze Age.

The NMR (available through Coflein) describes Tan-y-Coed:

A much ploughed-down barrow, 23m in diameter and 1.0m high, from which ‘a few small pieces of bone’ were removed ‘at some time before 1870’.