I’m not aware of a name for this stone, so I’ve called it Trefwri (West) after it’s neighbour, which is listed on CARN as simply ‘Trefwri Standing Stone’.
Kammer
The Cadw sign at the entrance to Castell Bryn-Gwyn says,
The nature of this site is uncertain although it may have originally been a religious sanctuary. The earliest bank and ditch belong to the end of the neolithic period (2500-2000 BC) but the site was re-occupied and fortified in Roman times and later.
On the ground it’s easy to see why everyone is so cagey about defining this site.
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust list Maen Llog in its current position, as a ‘boulder’ of unknown date. It’s antiquity must be in doubt, as nobody else seems to list it. It really doesn’t look much like a standing stone (Barber’s hunch), but it does remind me of a photo I’ve seen of Carreg Pumpsaint which is thought to be a possible anvil stone (Roman or Medieval). This is just supposition of course.
According to Coflein there’s a round cairn, 12m in diameter and 1.0m high, within the defenses of Cefyn y Castell (SJ30531332).
This stone stands near the village of the same name.
Not to be confused with the Long Stone near St. Ishael’s or the Long Stone near Liddeston, both a long way to the west.
I’ve had a peek at CARN, and this stone is listed as Medieval by Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, Cadw and RCAHMW. I’ve not looked at the records themselves, so there may be some ambiguity about the age of the stone that isn’t identifiable from the catalogue.
I tried to find this stone without a map on 21st June 2003, towards the end of a very long day. I snooped around the fields on the opposite side of the road to the Kinnerton Court Stone I but found nothing. Hay fever and a car full of very tired people stopped me from searching further afield.
Having looked at the map, I think this stone may lie in the garden of a house a bit further north than the field where I was searching. Next time I’ll take a map and the GPS.
A quick look at CARN tells me that there’s some sort of question-mark hanging over this site. Gwynedd Archaeological Trust list it as a possible standing stone, the RCAHMW don’t list it at all. That usually means that nobody can agree on exactly what the site represents.
I’ve not visited Crug-yr-Hwch (aka Mountain Burial Chamber) yet, but I understand it’s incorporated into a field boundary (like Tre Wallter Llwyd) with collapsed uprights. It may have been a Portal Dolmen, similar to Pentre Ifan. I get the impression it’s not been excavated.
In his book Prehistoric Preseli Figgis suggests that the tomb’s position between two small rivers (Foel Drygarn and Crug yr Hwch) might be significant.
Without a Welsh-English dictionary to hand I had a go at translating the name Cylch Derwyddol and came up with ‘circle of the oak meadow’. I based this on the assumption that ‘derwyddol’ was derived from the words ‘derw’ meaning ‘oak’, and ‘ddol’ meaning ‘meadow’. [Judging by Tollvên’s post, I got this entirely wrong].
Cylch Derwyddol lies on the eastern slopes of a mountain called Moel y Garn, which translates as ‘bare or rounded mountain of the cairn’.
I’ve not visited this site, but a friend of mine has (I’m hoping to pinch some photos from her). According to CANMORE Huly Hill is,
Surrounded by a modern wall, it measures 100’ in diameter and 10 1/2’ in height, with its summit slightly hollowed. Wilson states that it was opened in 1830, and found to contain a “bronze spearhead, along with animal charcoal and small fragments of bones, but neither cist nor urns”.
There are three standing stones in the same field as the barrow which may be the remains of a stone circle or circles. A fourth outlying stone (NT12657262) could be also be associated with the group. None of the stones are marked on the Landranger.
I’ve not visited this site, but the chap I’ve just spoken to at Pembrokeshire County Council has visited recently to check out the public footpath. Apparently you can get to the site, but I gather the Council plan to improve the path.
From a very superficial sweep of CARN it looks like this site was originally used during the Iron Age, then again as a defensive position during the Middle Ages. There is also a Holy Well here, but I have it on good authority that this may be in use as a fly tip!
Here’s the account of the site that accompanied the photo at the NMRW. I think the record belongs to the Royal Commission:
In a field on Ffynon Druidion Farm are the remains of a small cromlech. The capstone, 5 and a half feet in length, 3 and a half feet in breadth, and 1 foot thick, lies north-west to south-west; so far as an observation was possible, it appears to be supported by two stout pillars. The immediate surface for some yards around is strewn with rough stone. About 600 yards due south, and within site of the cromlech, is an erect stone [the Ffynnon Druidion standing stone]...
It’s not clear to me when the above was written. There were two dates on the paperwork, one relating to a visit to the site in 1920 and the other relating to a record made in 1872. The photo is most likely to related to the 1920 visit, so it seems likely that the site was still there in the early 20th Century. Hopefully it still is there.
Some superficial research at the NMRW clarified the history of this site, and made me feel a lot better about not finding it. According to the Royal Commission’s records...
This stone, known as Coitan Arthur, Arthur’s Quoit – probably the capstone or supporter of a demolished cromlech – stood in the corner of a field appurtenant to the farm of Trellwyn Ucha. It was destroyed in the year 1844.
I’d like to thank Phil for adding every site with the word ‘Arthur’ in it that he could find to the Modern Antiquarian Web site, including this one which hasn’t existed for 159 years!
Castell Pen-yr-Allt is the site of a Medieval castle, but there’s a strong possibility that the hill was also used during the Iron Age as a fort. I’ve not visited the it, so I’ve no idea what’s visible on the ground.
Yesterday I had a look through the Cadw records for Castell Pen-yr-Allt, held at the National Monuments Record of Wales. In the paperwork I looked at there was no reference to an Iron Age settlement on the site of the castle. It looks like Cadw have yet to be pursuaded of a prehistoric connection.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t a prehistoric settlement though. My research was incredibly rushed and superficial (I visited during my lunch hour) so there’s plenty of other material to be sifted through. Just a quick look at the catalogue shows that Cambria Archaeology and the RCAHMW both associate the site with the Iron Age.
I’ve now found out some more about Maen Serth. The Cadw records, indicate that it’s not prehistoric, but it remains listed on the National Monument Record as a Bronze Age standing stone.
Apparently the stone has a cross carved on the east south east side of it, but this is now practically indiscernible. There’s a large lump of rock missing from the top of the stone, and it’s probable that most of the carving was lost when this came away. The top of the stone was missing when photographed in 1911, but what remains of the cross has deteriorated since then.
In 1933 the stone was leaning at 45 degrees, but was subsequently set straight in concrete (there’s no indication of who did this). The stone is 8 feet tall (that’s nearly two and a half metres).
According to records at the NMRW, the cairn is 20 metres in diameter. At it’s highest point (the west side) is about 1 metre, and the remainder is between 40 and 60 centimetres high. It was only after a relatively recent gorse fire that the site was recognised to be a ring cairn.
In the Cadw records for Parc Cerrig Hirion I found a brief and rather vague reference to a second stone that may have stood in the same field. The land owner (who I assume was in conversation with a representative of Cadw) reported that his father had removed a standing stone from the field, and put it in the hedge. He rather helpfully offered to put it back again if necessary!
In his book The Silbury Treasure Michael Dames identifies the Great Barrow as a possible Harvest Hill (like Silbury but smaller) because of it’s size and proximity to Knowlton Henge:
Knowlton itself is 20 feet high, and surrounded by two concentric ditches (the outermost being 354 feet in diameter and 34 feet across)... The majestic scale of the edifice disqualifies it as a Bronze Age barrow, and since Neolithic barrows in Dorset are long, not round, a harvest hill function is a reasonable provisional attribute. Thus, though the Knowlton mound is called the Great Barrow, it is not at all likely to contain a burial except perhaps as a secondary internment, inserted at a later age.
I’ve not visited this site, or even seen any photos of it, but Michael Dames refers to it in his book The Silbury Treasure writing in the chapter Neolithic Harvest Hills in England:
Surviving members of the same class [as Hatfield Barrow] may include the enormous structure on Silk Hill, Wiltshire – a large circular mound 135 feet in diameter, 18 feet high, and encircled by a ditch. This edifice was opened by Hoare, who doubted whether it was sepulchral. There was no sign of internment, and the only finds were ‘animal bones of deer etc.‘
If Dames is right, the Silk Hill Mound is essentially a scaled down (and simplified) version of Silbury Hill.
In the back of The Silbury Treasure Michael Dames writes that the name ‘Gib Hill’ is modern. Apparently it was called ‘Llewing Low’ in the eighteenth century. Dames’ source is the Derby Archaeological Society Journal (1908 & 1911).
This site is one of those ones that nobody can agree upon. The most interesting explanation is that it’s the remains of a stone circle, but it’s also been interpreted as a stone row, or just some sort of ruined megalithic structure. Here’s what N.P. Figgis says about it in Prehistoric Preseli:
A group of stones, variously considered as a pair with one stone fallen and – least likely – remnants of a circle of which most are fallen. No early reference or place names suggest the presence of a circle; the three stones involved would indicate an enormous diameter. Interpretation open to suggestions!
I agree with Figgis that the circle would be whopping if that’s what it was. Based on what I’ve seen I reckon it’s a stone row.
Apparently this stone stands to the south west of the Chapel. The Gwynedd Archaeological Trust lists it as a prehistoric site, but the RCAHMW lists it as ‘Unknown’.
Here’s a quote about Cerrig y Gof from the book Prehistoric Preseli, by N.P. Figgis:
There are a few other tombs of vaguely similar pattern in western Scotland and eastern Ireland, but they are rare and none is really very similar. Fenton, the early nineteenth-century Pembrokeshire antiquarian, explored [Cerrig y Gof] when it was already in much the same state as it is today, and found some black pebbles (unusual – white quartz is common), charcoal and bits of unburned human bone along with what he described as sherds of the ‘rudest’ pottery, all now sadly lost.
Here’s more from Neolithic Sites of Cardiganshire Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire by G. Children and G. Nash:
Cerrig y Gof was excavated in 1811 by Fenton... he believed a central cromlech originally completed the complex. This argument is disputed because the central area is too small to accommodate a chamber of a size similar to the other five.
These two books are excellent resources if you’re planning a trip to the area.
This stone is on private land, behind the barn of Ty’r-coed Farm. According to Wendy Hughes (in her book Prehistoric Sites of The Gower & West Glamorgan) you may gain permission to view it if you ask at the farmhouse.
A promontory fort occupying a narrow headland south east of the Knave. The cliff has eroded considerably since the fort’s construction, but apparently the original entrance is discernable as a break in the defences, 5 metres short of the cliff edge on the south side (my source here is Prehistoric Sites of The Gower & West Glamorgan by Wendy Hughes).
The site is accessible from the coastal footpath, but be careful near the cliff edge!
Another site I’ve not visited, the Knave is a semicircular cliff fort with a bank and ditch on the inland side. The site was excavated in 1938 by Audrey Williams, and the remains of two huts were found, one of which had been burnt down. It’s thought that the Knave probably only served one or two families because of it’s relatively small size.
I’ve not visited this site, but apparently it’s an oval shaped Iron Age defence, of about 0.9 hectares. It has an inner bank and ditch as well as an outer bank and ditch which is incomplete (and may have never been finished).
For some reason the fort doesn’t stand at the summit of the hill, but on the ground sloping away from it looking out towards Cheriton. This makes no sense in defensive terms, so it’s a bit of a mystery.
Another site wrongly asociated with Beech Bootom Dyke (in St. Albans) and Devils Syke and the Slad (near Wheathampstead). These three defenses are unlikely to have ever been connected to each other.
The dyke is on private land near Mayne Farm on the Gorhambury Estate. Apparently it’s 15 metres wide, and is thought to have been conneced with the Catuvellaunian capital at Prae Wood (of a later period to the other sites mentioned above).
I’ve not visited the site, so I should give credit to James Dyer (Discovering Prehistoric England) and Nicholas Thomas (Guide to Prehistoric England) for this description.
The following text, from the information board at the car park, describes both St. Govan’s well and the well inside the chapel:
On the floor just inside the main door [of the chapel] is a simple, shallow well. The water, which could only be scooped with a small stone or limpet shell, was said to cure eye complaints, skin diseases and rheumatism. Located just outside the chapel, and covered by the stone arch, is the saint’s holy well. Although it is now dry, it was known for both healing powers and as a wishing well.
The well in the chapel is dissapointing (and usually filled with litter).
Not to be confused with the Long Stone 6km to the east, near Liddeston.
Not to be confused with the Long Stone 6km to the west, near St. Ishael’s. They’re not very original with their names in these parts.
Not to be confused with the earthfast burial chamber called The Devil’s Quoit 11km to the west (near Broomhill Burrows) or the standing stone 2km to the west called The Devil’s Quoit (near the small village of Sampson).
Not to be confused with the stone 21km to the south, near the small village of Sampson, also called the Harold Stone.
Not to be confused with the stone 21km to the north, near the village of Broadhaven, also called the Harold Stone.
Not to be confused with the earthfast burial chamber called The Devil’s Quoit 9km to the west (near Broomhill Burrows) or the standing stone 2km to the east called The Devil’s Quoit (near Stackpole Warren).
Not to be confused with the standing stone called The Devil’s Quoit 9km to the east (near the tiny village of Sampson) or the standing stone 11km to the east called The Devil’s Quoit (near Stackpole Warren).
There’s some debate (at least in our family) as to whether Beech Bottom Dyke and this site were ever connected.
I enterpret Devil’s Dyke and the Slad are two sides of the same defensive enclosure *. Even from the Landranger you can see the contour lines following the existing ditches, and continuing around to the north and south where there is no longer a ditch. The lake to the south of the Slad is a definitely a continuation of the defences. If you look at the Slad on the ground this is really clear. Whatever Beech Bottom Dyke represents, I don’t think it ever connected with Devil’s Dyke and the Slad.
* Apparently I’m not alone here, as Sir Mortimer Wheeler was of the same opinion (you can’t argue with that, he’s a ‘sir’).
Translated from the Welsh the name Caerfai, which is given to the bay and the fort, means fort bay. It’s another one of those strange Welsh/English naming things, because the fort’s name refers to the bay that was named after the fort (if you see what I mean). Things have very nearly come full circle.
As well as being known as Caerfai Camp or Fort, the site is also known as Penpleidiau Camp, after the small island that lies to the south of it.
The name Meini Gwyr should have a to-bach (or circumflex) over the ‘y’ for it to be read corectly in the Welsh. The word maeni means stones, and the word gwyr means either men or husbands.
If the to-bach was over the ‘w’ then the word would becomes crooked, which makes a bit more sense to me. Having said that, I’ve never seen this spelling, but on Stukley’s illustration there is no to-bach at all. This suggests that the name may originate from either ‘men/husbands’ or ‘crooked’.
Yr Allor are thought by many to be the remains of a three stone cove, along the lines of larger examples at Avebury and Stanton Drew (the Glandy Cross complex is often compared to Avebury because of the density of sites that once stood here). There are a number of accounts describing the third stone, and the existance of a third stone tends to be accepted by most people, but the site may not have been a cove. In his excellent book Prehistoric Preseli N.P. Figgis writes...
Investigations have shown that the leaning stone was deliberately propped that way, which undermines the idea that Yr Allor might have been a cove...According to Figgis an area of cobbling and some early Bronze Age pits were found around the two stones, and nearby a number of stone flakes were found, suggesting that Neolithic axe making had been taking place.
The name Yr Allor means the altar in Welsh.
According to Cambria Archaeology Carn Llidi Bychan is a prehistoric boundary wall, so there may not be much to see on the ground.
We walked relatively close to this site on our way between Coetan Arthur and the Carn Llidi chambers, but there’s loads of gorse covering the area. If it hadn’t been blowing a gale I might have tried pursuading Lou to explore further, but I knew not to push my luck.
The site of St Ninian’s Chapel was in use during the Iron Age period. Here’s what CANMORE has to say about it...
The site was recovered by excavation by Prof. O’Dell between 1955 and 1959, revealing the foundations of a 12th century church, overlying a pre-Norse(?) church, which in turn overlay an Iron Age site (possibly a wheel house) yielding pottery datable to about the 2nd century AD. Each level was accompanied by contemporary graves, those of the Iron Age being centred on a crouched burial of late Bronze Age type, which lay SW of the chancel of the medieval church.
A C O’Dell 1958
Not much to see here I’m afraid. In July 1977 contractors working at the airport uncovered the cist and there was an emergency excavation lasting one week. Here’s some blurb from the Shetland Today web site:
A burial in a stone cist discovered at Sumburgh airport has been dated to 3,200BC. It contained the earliest human remains as yet found in Shetland – the bones of at least 18 individuals along with various grave goods. Some of these artefacts and bones can be seen in the Shetland Museum in Lerwick....and here’s what CANMORE says about the site:Although this stone cist is now below the airport’s control tower, there is a wealth of nationally important archaeology to be seen in the vicinity.
The site was greatly disturbed but can be reconstructed with confidence as a boulder delimited cist containing a multiple burial which had been completely disarticulated and which was accompanied by several stone beads and broken pottery of possible Beaker or Early Bronze Age date.Kammer x
Ironically it looks like Nant-y-Maen gets it’s name from the nearby stream, which is itself named after the stone! Translating from the Welsh, nant means stream, and maen means stone. So the stream’s name means Stream of the Stone.
The nearby farm also has the name Nant-y-Maen, so it’s probable that this is the way it panned out...
1) The stream was named after the stone.
2) The farm was named after the stream.
3) The stone was named after the farm.
I suppose that the next logical step would be to rename the stream Nant-y-Nant-y-Maen.
This cairn is usually associated with Clach na Carraig, and was excavated by the RCAHMS in 1967. It’s 4.5 metres in diameter, roughly circular, and was originally kerbed by 15 large boulders of which 12 survive. These stones were up to 1.3 metres in height on the south side, decreasing in size on the north side.
Apparently the excavation uncovered white quartz chips placed round the bases of the kerb stones. Inside the cairn at the original ground level, a layer of burning and a hollow were found, and the base layer of the cairn material contained a very small quantity of cremated bone.
The RCAHMS record describes this as a possible cairn, sited approximately 75 metres south west of the stone circle on the summit of a low rocky spur. The cairn is, about 18.3 metres in diameter and 1.7 metres in height and has been subject to extensive stone robbing to provide material for adjacent field walls.
Apparantly one of the remaining stones is earthfast, suggesting that this may have originally been a kerbed cairn.
According to the RCAHMS records, this is the only known stone circle in Lorn. It consists of, 31 rounded boulders of various sizes, the largest measuring not more than 1 metre in height.
The same record refers to four other stones, a short distance outside the circle, on the north north-east side. These are thought to have been displaced from the main circle.
Important Information
This site is within on an MOD firing range, so unless you have a death wish, you’ll need to get permission to visit it. There’s more information on the Megalithic Walks page, linked to below.
NB. This site is under water.
You’ll not get to see Aber Camddwr Ring Cairn unless you’re a scuba diver. It was submerged in 1961 when the Nant y Moch Reservoir was created. Another thing to note is this isn’t the original location of the Aber Camddwr Platform Cairn. The two sites share the same name, and their original locations are both flooded, but they are totally different sites. Unlike it’s neighbour, this site has not been reconstructed on dry land.
The Aber Camddwr Ring cairn was originally thought to have been a round hut, but excavations prior to flooding revealed that it was a ring cairn consisting of a bank of stones, about 6ft wide with a rough external kerb. Unusually there was a gap in the ring to the south. At the centre of the cairn was a, ‘neat rock-cut pit containing a collared urn’. Surrounding the urn were six shallow hollows in a ring, each containing ‘the dismembered remains of a child burnt in situ and covered in flat slabs’.
[Sources NMRW]