Kammer

Visited 25th May 2003: We approached from the direction of Maen Pebyll along an interesting little road that runs over the mountain. In the village there were teenagers playing what appeared to be hide and seek, and I was sorry to see that the pub was shut down.

When we arrived we went round the church the wrong way, so my first view of the Four Stones was from the south. My first thought was ‘look there’s an old stone marked boundary’, and I never quite managed to shake this idea off. The stones are very striking despite their medium stature. The Latin carved stone is a bonus, if you like that sort of thing (creative vandalism?). The proximity of the stones to the embankment that leads down from the churchyard down to the River Elwy is interesting, as is the short distance between the church itself and the stones. I wonder what the history of this place is. I think I need to do some reading.

The Four Stones Of Gwytherin were our last stop before Pizza Hut (I know it’s not very ethically minded, but there you go) then home.

Visited 25th May 2003: This site got me more excited than Capel Garmon. What a great place! Everyone else stayed in the car and I pegged it off to take a close look at the stones. What remains appears to be a collapsed chamber, and the ploughed down remains of the barrow mound to the east of it. The views from up here are very dramatic, especially looking west towards the mountains. This must have been quite a place!

I didn’t have much time at Maen Pebyll because the light was fading and I’d set my heart on visiting the Gwytherin Stones before we set of home. Well worth a visit though, if you don’t mind slumbering megaliths.

Visited 25th May 2003: After a kiddies party near Conwy I dragged everyone off to see some sites. First stop was Capel Garmon, which I last visited 20 years ago with my parents!

The chamber is heavily reconstructed, or so it appeared to me. We were all a bit tired and irritable, so it was difficult to relax and enjoy the site. Not much ‘zing’ was found here. The surrounding landscape is fantastic though, with excellent views of the mountains. I’d quite like to come here again on my own, without fractious kiddies, and see whether there’s any ‘zing’ here to be had.

I had intended to recreate the 1983 photos with Lou, Will and Alfie in them, but my attempts were too crap to post. Another thing I stuffed up was forgetting to check the location of the Gorsedd before heading out to the site. As a result I totally failed to take a look.

PS. Broen – I suspect that the farmer knew exactly where this site was when he directed you elsewhere. I didn’t get the feeling that he’s keen on people visiting the site (crappy gates, mad sheep dogs etc.)

Visited 11th May 2003: This was the last site I visited on my way back from Oxford. I found it from memory, having seen it listed on CARN. Thought to be a standing stone, the Hindwell Stone stands 300 metres (west north west) of the Four Stones. Although it’s a lot smaller than the stones in it’s neighbouring site, the type of stone and shape is similar.

I got more excited about this little chap than I did at the Four Stones. The surrounding hills, and Old Radnor were easy to see, and there are no nearby houses (unlike the Fours Stones). The ploughed field had a slightly Zen quality, with the stone sat on a small island of uncultivated soil. I really enjoyed visiting this obscure little megalith!

Visited 11th May 2003: The Radnor Four Stones were my penultimate stop off on the way home from Oxford. It was my first visit to the site, and I was travelling ‘sans map’. I overshot on the A44, turning off too far west. After asking directions from a friendly farmer I doubled back, and eventually ended up in the right place.

The four stones are enormous, but sat as they are in a big flat field, it all seemed a bit of an anticlimax when I got there. The stones are so squat and rounded that they could almost be sat on the surface rather than embedded in the ground (obviously this isn’t the case). They don’t seem to be orientated in any obvious way. I didn’t feel my eye being drawn to anything specific. I’m new to the ‘four poster’ thing, so perhaps it takes a while to tune into. After all that driving I was probably in the ‘wrong place’ for the Four Stones.

It goes without saying that this is a truly megalithic site, probably pivotal in a landscape of smaller sites, so it that respect ‘je ne regret rein’. The visit left me wondering what a four poster is doing in mid Wales!

Visited 18th April 2003: I looked for this site with just a Landranger map, and couldn’t find it. From the road I saw lots of stones that looked like they may have once been part of something, but it was all very inconclusive. More photogenic than these was a big pile of old cast iron baths.

Subsequently I’ve seen an old black and white photo of the site at the NMRW (sadly undated) showing the site to be a classic dolmen. What I can’t be sure of is whether the site still exists, but from the write up I suspect it does, and I was just looking in the wrong place.

Visited 20th April: I visited this site in the hope of finding something of the burial chamber that once stood here. Lou dozed in the car while I ran around like a loony with my GPS. I found nothing but sheep in the field where the tomb supposedly stood. There was a slight bump in the field, but nothing that I could conclusively identify. Perhaps for someone with a bit more time and patience there might be clues to find here, but in the end I gave up.

Visited 15th April 2003: This is the strangest natural feature I’ve seen in a while. It’s a long narow curving band of scattered rocks, stretching from the Carn Menyn Chambered Cairn down into the valley. From a distance it looks river like (and a bit alien) winding it’s way down from the Preseli ridge. I pinched the name ‘Stone River’ from the book Prehistoric Preseli by N.P. Figgis.

I’m usually a bit sceptical about the connection between ‘natural’ sites and artificial prehistoric sites, but this one left me relatively certain that it was of significance to the people who erected the Preseli sites. The fact that the Carn Menyn Cairn was built directly at the head of this feature makes this likely. From Bedd Arthur the river can be seen stretching away from majesty of Carn Meini, down towards the flat fertile land where Gors Fawr is sited. The river is also very easy to see from below (e.g. from the Rhos Fach Standing Stones), like an arrow pointing to Carn Meini.

There’s another photo of the Stone River, taken from Bedd Arthur, under the Carn Menyn Chambered Cairn section, as well as some shots of the cairn showing the beginning of the river.

This feature is strangely un-sung!

Visited 28th April 2003: After St. Lythans we headed for Tinkinswood, and weren’t disappointed. It was a sunny evening, and the tomb looked great in the contrasting light and shadow. William was very happy playing here, because the chamber is so large. He kept running up to the edge of the capstone, which scared us silly as it’s a long drop to the ground in places. The cists behind the chamber were interesting, as was the beautiful dry stone walling on the east side of the site. The nearby power cables and pylon didn’t bother me too much, certainly not in comparison to the uncomfortable feeling I got at the Countless Stones. What a great place!

Visited 28th April 2003: This was one hell of a detour. We’d spent the weekend in the south east of England, and were supposed to be going home to mid-west Wales. Somehow I persuaded Louise that we should pop in and see St. Lythans and Tinkinswood on the way (adding about two hours to the journey). Armed with a crumby road atlas we eventually found our way to St. Lythans, and after a change of footwear and a stretch, we marched up the field to the chamber.

What a great site this is. From a distance the two largest uprights look flat like walls, meeting the capstone neatly. On closer inspection it’s clear that all the stones are peppered with little round holes, presumably caused by weathering. There’s a hole right through the smallest of the uprights, which William wanted to stick his hand through (I had to hold him up). The capstone is enormous, and I must admit (like Mr. Cope) I couldn’t resist a quick look at the top of it. The top of the stone is deeply rutted with valleys and holes, full of water. I felt no mystical bad vibes while I was perching up there (I think I’m numbed to that sort of thing) but I did feel a bit irresponsible, so I hopped down quick smart. The chamber is extremely photogenic, fitting nicely into the dolmen stereotype.

Visited 16th March 2003: A bit more impressive than Nant-y-Fedwen, this round cairn is really obvious from the road. It’s quite large for the area, given it’s altitude and the relative fertility of the surrounding land (I mean relative to the mountain peaks rather than the lowlands).

This cairn would once have shared the valley with a number of other sites, some of which (like the Aber Camddwr Ring Cairn) were destroyed with the creation of the Nant-y-Moch Reservoir. The peaks of all the surrounding mountains still have Bronze Age cairns on them, and there are still a number of sites along the valley. This area must have been humming with ritual significance a few thousand years ago!