Kammer

Visited 17th April 2003: After the Harold Stone this was a bit disappointing. We would never have known the stone was there just by passing, because it’s largely embedded in the hedge bank. It was the lady from the bungalow by the Harold Stone that told us about it.

Since the visit I’ve had a quick look at the site on the NMRW, and it’s listed by different organisations in different ways. I’m pretty sure there are more stones we missed when we were there, because the site is described as standing stones (by Cadw), a stone row (by the RCAHMW), and a possible stone circle (by Cambria Archaeology). That’s assuming that we’re all talking about the same site.

Visited 17th April 2003: The Harold Stone is on private land, with no public right of access. Having said that, I’ve never been made to feel so welcome visiting a site on someone else’s land before. To cap it all, this stone is in the back garden of a bungalow. The couple who own the bungalow have got used to people visiting the stone, and they have a very easy going attitude to the wide variety of beliefs held by those who come. They told us numerous stories about people visiting the stone, including archaeologists, coach parties of tourists, Ley Line hunters and stone hugging Pagans. After we’d seen the stone we were invited in for a cup of tea in their kitchen while the boys slept in the car.

Apart from the warm reception, it was a warm and sunny day, and I was very pleased to see the Stone. It’s a striking lump of rock, almost white with lichen, except for the upper surface which is green with beautiful hairy lichen. Before she left us to look at the stone on our own, the lady who lives at the bungalow pointed out some distinct fluting at the base of the stone. She has been told that the fluting may have been carved into the stone by the people who put it up to ease the process of fixing it into the ground.

The stone is up above the sea cliff, apparently visible from the coastal footpath that runs between the garden and the cliff edge. There are beautiful views from the garden out into St. Bride’s Bay, but the gentleman who owns the bungalow told me the weather can be a problem because the plot is so exposed (something we talked about for a while because I live on top of a mountain, and we had numerous anecdotes to swap). What a pleasant visit! We’ll definitely be going back as soon as we get the opportunity.

Visited 15th April 2003: Bedd Arthur was as far west as we walked along the Preseli ridge. I was really proud of William for walking all the way without being carried at any stage along the journey, so this posting is dedicated to him.

What a strange site Bedd Arthur is. My gut feeling is that it’s prehistoric, but how you categorise it I’ve no idea. Some people regard it as an ellipse of stones, and others as a rectangle (depending on how you join the dots in your head). Apparently it’s regarded as a hengiform monument, because there are traces of a bank around it (not that I could see them). As for it’s situation, the site overlooks Carn Meini and the Stone River, which can’t be coincidence.

The place has quite a special feel to it, possibly because it’s so isolated. By the time we got there it was nearly evening (much later than intended) and there was simply no one about. Apart from William’s noise it was tranquil. I wish we hadn’t been so tired by the time we got there. With the prospect of the walk back (at three and a half year old speed) hanging over us we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked.

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I’ve posted a view from Bedd Arthur towards Carn Meini on the Carn Menyn Chambered Cairn part of the site.

Visited 26th April 2003: This cluster of barrows is visible from the Thurfield Heath car park. There are three relatively large barrows, and three smaller ones (of which I only identified two) that are much less well defined. The three largest in the cluster are very close to each other, and stand in a neat row. From the top of any one of these you get great views of the long barrow to the south and Cambridgeshire to the north (freakily flat to someone who lives in Wales).

Visited 26th April 2003: This barrow sits out on its own, away from the others, to the north east of the long barrow. It has an iron bench on it dedicated to someone called Herbert John Haywood (apparently he loved the beautiful walk and view). To be fair to Mr Haywood, it is a nice place to sit, even though Royston makes up a large part of the view.

Visited 26th April 2003: I was a bit concerned that we wouldn’t find the long barrow because I knew it was of the low earthen type, but even without a Landranger it was easy enough to find. It’s up on the hill to the east of the car park. Although you can’t see the long barrow itself from the car park, you can make out the nearby round barrows.

Watch out for the golf players though. Whereas most of the round barrows are on the side of the fairway, the long barrow is part of the golf course (apologies to any golf players if my terminology is muddled). We watched a bloke taking a shot from the top of the barrow. It was rather amusing to me, but I suppose it’s pretty routine for the local players. In this case I think he thought we were admiring his game.

Visited 15th April 2003: When I visited this site I thought it was Carn Ferched, but now I’m more inclined to think it’s actually a standing stone called Maenllwyd y Rhos.

The site is relatively easy to find if you’re on the ridgeway path that runs along the Preseli range. There’s a large boulder by the footpath opposite the cairn, so if you’re not sure look out for this, then head north and you’ll get to it. It’s clearly visible from the footpath, so this technique should only be necessary in poor weather conditions.

I was surprised to find such large kerb stones in what I thought be a cairn, so I checked and double checked that I was in the right place. At the time I was suspicious of my own navigation because the Landranger map, which marks Carn Ferched, puts it further west than this site. I also had some grid references for Carn Ferched which I’d put in my GPS from Prehistoric Preseli by N.P. Figgis which didn’t match the site I was looking at.

It’s only a month later that I’ve realised that these stones are probably not Carn Ferched at all. My grid references exactly match a Cambria Archaeology record for Maenllwyd y Rhos (SN 15441 32906), which is listed as a possible standing stone. What little information I can find on Carn Ferched suggests it is a barrow like site, which certainly doesn’t describe the stones that I saw.

Whatever it actually is, I visited this site twice, once on the way to Bedd Arthur and once on our return. Same day, but very different light conditions. Well worth the tiny detour if you’re heading this way to Bedd Arthur, Carn Meini etc. Possibly a bit trickier to find coming from the direction of Moel Drygarn.

Visited 10th May 2003: Armed only with a brand spanking new Explorer map, we drove right up to the mound and took some photos. Time didn’t allow a more prolonged visit.

We didn’t ask permission, but instead opted for the ‘driving right up to it’ approach. This seemed to work quite well, but maybe we were lucky.

Visited 15th April 2003: On our way back from Bedd Arthur I left Lou and Will on the main path, and took Alfie off in the backpack to find this site. At the time I knew very little about it, as I’d only spotted it on the map quite late on.

To my surprise the site isn’t just a crumby old cairn, but quite a large old pile with an equally large chamber in the middle. The chamber is very low, so I wasn’t going to try and get inside. The position of the cairn is spectacular, standing at the foot of Carn Meini (the natural outcrop) and at the head of the Stone River. It’s the latter that’s really special, because from the cairn you can see the band of stone arching it’s way down the hill.

A detour well worth making, and had I done my research properly I could have gone to see it when we visited Carn Meini rather than as an after thought. I don’t think baby Alfie was especially moved by it all though.