Trethevy Quoit

Known locally as "the giant's house".

Standing 9 feet (2.7 m) high, this magnificent 5000-year-old

ancient structure consists of Six standing stones capped by a large slab.

Visit Date March 2024

Trethevy Quoit

Walking up to this structure, it is in a field close to some modern houses you do not get a feel of the size of this structure but as you approach the magnificence of this site overwhelms you.

Click on any image to enlarge

There are many of these burial sites in the UK and Cornwall has a large number of them.

Like many other portal structures, Trethevy Quoit would have been originally covered by a mound.

In the 19th century, William Copeland Borlase studied the site and made drawings of it.

A later investigation of the remnants suggests a mound diameter of almost 6.5 metres.

It is impossible to tell if stones have been removed from the site but the remaining seven stones a and an estimated 10.5-ton cover slab were inside the mound.

Trethevy Quoit

There are some unusual aspects of Trethevy Quoit, not only does it have 6 supporting stones forming its internal chamber, but it also has an antechamber at the 'front'. The only other Cornish quoit to boast two chambers is Lanyon Quoit.

Particularly interesting is the circular hole cut in the highermost corner of the capstone. Speculation has informed us that the hole could have been used for astronomy. The movement and settling over the millennia that have passed means it is impossible to prove, but it is peculiar and thought to be unique to this megalithic site.

Click on any image to enlarge

The massive capstone sits at a steep angle, and this is unlikely if this was the capstone's original position. At the lower side of the capstone, five small hollows can be found.

The entrance stone at the front in most portal structures can't be moved. however, Trevethy Quoit is a rare exception here, because a small rectangular stone moving at the bottom right of the front allows access to the chamber.

There is a rectangular cut-out at the side of the upright stone that forms the front of the main chamber it is unclear if this is a later modification of if it was used and an entrance this is not seen on any other Cornish sites.

Trethevy Quoit

Trethevy Quoit was first mentioned in 1584 by John Norden, in a topographical and historical account of Britain.

He described it as “A little howse raised of mightie stones, standing on a little hill within a fielde”.

Trethevy Quoit

In Cornish mythology, the monument is known as the Giant’s House and was believed to have been created by this fabled race.

It also like many other structures in Cornwall and indeed Wales it has links with King Arthur legend and is believed to have been magically built by Merlin.

Additional information:-

A Cromlech or Dolmen is an ancient underground tomb typically built with several large upright stones and a capstone on top. In its day, the whole thing would have been covered by a mound of earth. In some parts of the UK especially in Cornwall these structures are called Quoits.

Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000–2000 BC)

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Google Reference: -
50.493185727515105, -4.455456201119047

What Three Words reference: -
///countries.extent.nibbles

OS Details: -
SX 25936 68813 : Altitude:725 ft

Additional information.

Visiting is fairly easy although the roads become just lanes for some of the way and parking is a small car park for about three cars (50.493164985542144, -4.454975466726607) and a short walk into the adjacent field.
The approach is via the B3254 and turn off towards the village of Darite. On this road you will see the turn off for the quoit.










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Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber

Neolithic burial sites can be found all over Wales, the UK and across Europe.

I have visited many of these sites and have posted information on them here such as

Maen Ceti (Arthur's Stone)   St Lythans Dolmen  Carreg Samson and Coetan Arthur

What makes the site at Duffryn Ardudwy different is that there are two tombs close together.

Visit Date May 2023

Click on any image to enlarge.

The two dolmens are just 30 feet apart within a much bigger mound.

The chambers were built sometime between 4000-2000 BC, probably as a communal burial site. The entire monument was probably originally covered by a mound of small stones.

Click on any image to enlarge

The investigation following the excavation seems to explain that there had been two different periods of construction at the site.

The Western Dolmen

First, the smaller, western, dolmen had been put up and surrounded by an oval cairn.

The Eastern Dolmen

Sometime later, a larger Eastern tomb was constructed with a trapezial design which was needed to combine both tombs.

Click on any image to enlarge

Today the site consists of an elongated oval, running up a slight slope, with one large chamber at the top eastern end of the slope and a smaller chamber beneath the branches of a tree at the lower western end. Beside the upper chamber is a solitary standing stone.

Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber

The site was excavated in 1961-2 by T.G.E. Powell. Although the tomb had been rifled, at the smaller dolmen a pit containing fragments of five Neolithic pottery vessels was found sealed by the cairn in front of the tomb.

This tomb has a small prehistoric cup-mark carved on one of its portal stones.

The Eastern Tomb

The second, larger megalithic tomb was built to the east and was set within a large, rectangular cairn which incorporated the earlier tomb. This later tomb produced both Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery.

Other finds included a fine, broken, stone pendant.

It was found necessary in 1961-62 to provide additional support for the great roofing stone on the eastern dolmen and a buttress was built on either side of the chamber for this purpose.

The Western Tomb

There is little doubt that the two tombs were built several generations apart.

Stones from this site have been used in the past as building materials and this is often the case at these sites but there is still a vast amount of stones around the site.

Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber

In his book, 'Guide to Ancient Britain' Bill Anderton writes that: “As part of an outbreak of light phenomena, columns of light were seen issuing from the ground here in 1905. 

The site stands on the Morchras geological fault.

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Google Reference: -
52.78462455046947, -4.094379021652469

Google search term:
Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber

What Three Words reference: -
///bagpipes.genius.snowmen

OS Details: -
SH 58852 22835L : Altitude:141 ft

Additional information.

Visiting is very easy but parking close is not so.
First there is Station road parking (52.78834904037549, -4.097879713123781) this will be the closest and it is just a 500 metre walk back to the main road and down to the school where the marked path alongside the school takes you to the site.
Alternatively park opposite the community centre (52.78834904037549, -4.097879713123781) and the walk is just an additional 200 metres and you may then visit the friendly café in the community centre. Good coffee and a warm welcome.

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Tŷ Newydd Burial Chamber.

 

Tŷ Newydd burial chamber although ruined, is still a good example of a megalithic dolmen. 

Set on a natural outcrop it would originally have been covered with a mound or cairn 

now marked out by the small bollards that surround it.

Visit Date May 2023

Click on image for a larger version.

Ty-Newydd has a massive cracked capstone, about 4.0m by 1.8m and up to 1.2m thick, that rests on three of the four remaining uprights. The Capstone is likely to have originally been wider as part of the southern edge has broken off.

The chamber was originally part of a passage grave. One theory is that the tomb was originally similar to Bryn Celli Ddu (the subject of a later blog), with a second chamber joined to the first by a passage, and the entire tomb was covered by a large earth mound which was later removed.

Early reports claim that the second larger chamber existed close by, this has long since been broken up and carried away as has any surface evidence of a covering stone cairn so it is impossible to establish the original layout of the site although several small concrete markers around the chamber hint at the possible extent.

It is said to have once been enclosed by a circular wall about 32m in diameter and this may reflect the form of the cairn.

The huge tilted capstone is split and is now partly supported by brickwork and concrete. This does distract from the natural beauty of this site however one suspects that without this intervention the capstone would now be on the ground.

There is a photo in 'The Ancient Stones of Wales' by Barber and Williams, which purports to show Ty Newydd in 1900, with the capstone resting on 3 uprights, without all the modern brickwork.

The chamber was excavated in August 1935 by Charles Phillips.

There was a lot of charcoal, suggesting evidence of a large fire that formed this thick layer of charcoal as well as a quantity of quartz.

There were no human remains found at the site however the finds included five flint flakes, a burnt flint arrowhead, a small chip from a polished flint axe, and some small fragments of pottery. Phillips believed that the pottery fragments were from the Beaker culture, suggesting a Bronze Age reuse of this earlier Neolithic monument.

More recently, prehistoric artwork termed ‘cup marks’ have been detected on the capstone.

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Google Reference: -
53.23592779682485, -4.482380635799995

Google search term:
I have had a few problems with google maps trying to locate the exact place by description so please use the google reference above.

What Three Words reference: -
///overgrown.broke.slings

OS Details: -
SH 34422 73862 Altitude:115 ft

Additional information.

Visiting is relatively easy.
There is a turn off to an unnamed road off the A4080
It traveling north the entrance to the field is on the right hand side and is has a ancient monument signpost and information board.
There is a small layby (53.23661829013594, -4.485084849839341).

There are no facilities here.

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Cenarth Falls

 

Cenarth is a small village on the border of Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. 

The focus of the village is Cenarth Falls, a series of small waterfalls and pools

 on the river Teifi known as The Salmon Leaps.

Visit Date September 2023

The waterfalls are one of the first real barriers to salmon and seatrout on their way up the Teifi from the sea to spawn.

There has been a mill on the south bank of the river at Cenarth since the 13th century when Cenarth Mill came into the possession of Edward I when he became Lord of the Manor of Cenarth.

The mill holds a secret in its base. There is a trap door in the floor and it is said that the miller would open the door and catch the salmon that were leaping there. The catching of salmon here was illegal but despite this, there was a lot of poaching of the fish, especially at night.

Light round boats, called coracles here in Wales, would often be seen on the river in the autumn nights with their occupants poaching the fish.

As well as the falls at Cenarth the other main feature of this small town is the bridge over the River Teifi at Cenarth that joins two counties, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion and has existed at least since 1188 when it was mentioned in the writings of Gerald of Wales.(a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively).

The design includes two cylindrical holes 6 ft (1.8 m) in diameter, one on either side of the central span. The holes were included in the design while reducing the overall weight of the structure they also allow floodwaters to pass through them, instead of going over the top of the bridge: In these images, the water appears to flow under the southern arch only however, when in full flood the Teifi flows through all three arches.

This feature was used by Edwards's father William, who used six holes in the Old Bridge at Pontypridd to reduce the weight and pressure on the centre section.

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Google Reference: -
52.04573152490105, -4.524292938371246


Google search term:
Cenarth Falls

What Three Words reference: -
///shows.riper.correctly

OS Details: -
SN 27008 41592 Altitude:40 ft

Additional information.

Visiting Cenarth falls and bridge is very easy.
There is lots of parking here right on the river bank. (52.04578729006762, -4.525187301082359).


There are shops toilets and a very nice cafe adjacent to the car park other also other amenities close by.

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Men An Tol

An Ancient Cornish Treasure

The name Men an Toll (note the extra l) in

Cornish means "the stone of the hole",

Aptly named for this 3500-year-old bronze age structure.

Visit Date March 2023

There are many "loose" stones around this site but the Mên-an-Tol consists of three upright stones made from local granite, The two side uprights stand just over a metre high. The round stone is 1.3 metres wide and around 1.1 metres high.

There has been some discussion as to the structure being part of a stone circle but although there are outlying stones there does not seem to be any circle structure to them, of course, the site may have been changed since its "modern discovery".

Also, there have been theories that the holed stone was a capstone from a Dolmen but again I think this is unlikely.

The first archaeological examination was carried out in 1749. The plan that was drawn seems to suggest that there had been some movement of the stones but in John Tomas Blights account "Ancient crosses and other antiquities in the west of Cornwall" published in 1858 the stones are set exactly as they are today.

It is difficult to know what the structure was used for but there are many stone structures close to this site. Its nearest neighbour is Menscifa (A standing stone with writing on its surface, that will be in a later post.) which is just a few hundred yards away and the Nine Maidens Stone Circle is about a quarter of a mile further over the moor. Also in the distance you can see the more recent structure of the Greenburrow engine house (1919 - 1936).

As you would expect from a site this well known there is much folklore attributed to the structure.

It is said, If a brass pin was placed on the holed stone, questions could be answered by the movement of the pin.

In his 1932 report, Hugh O'Neil Hanchen was told by local farmers that pain in limbs or back would improve by passing through the hole. This is said to happen because a fairy or piskie (a cornish name for a pixie or elf) can make miraculous cures.

Although I guess the portly figures would not have this available to them given the size of the hole.

Another tells that some Evil piskies put a changling spell on a child which was reversed by the mother passing the infant through the hole breaking the spell.

A very well-known tale was the holed stone was said to cure rickets and children with rickets were passed naked through the hole in the middle stone from three to nine times to provide a cure.

The most popular local legend reports that a woman passing through the hole at a full moon will soon become pregnant.

Whatever the original reason for the structure we will never know but it has been put to many good uses down through the years.

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Visit Information: -

Google Reference: -
50.158569483211956, -5.604591983491583

What Three Words reference: -
///chitchat.flips.chatters

OS Details: -
SW 42645 34942 Altitude:638 ft

Additional information.
This is a fine site that is easily accessible on the moor.
The road is a turn south off the B3306
There is a parking for around 4 cars close to the path of this site (50.153595163384026, -5.6149119102692655) The pathway is marked and the walk is an easy 1.2KM (15 minutes) from here. Look for a sign on the path by a a stile to cross the field.

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Cerrig Duon and Maen Mawr

 Visit Date October 2021.  

Another ancient site in south Wales today the site of Cerrig Duon and Maen Mawr.

The actual site is called Cerrig Duon and it consists of a very low stone circle and a standing stone just outside the circle called Maen Mawr, which unimaginatively translates to "Large Stone".

The site of Cerrig Duon (translates to black stones), which probably dates to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC) has also been listed as a stone row and there are two stones outside the circle leading to Maen Mawr and then onto the circle, I am not sure if I would say this was a stone row? however, looking along this line to the south it does seem to line up well with the dip between two mountains to the south and if there was a reason for this I suspect it has been lost in time. Although the circle does not protrude from the ground very much it is a stone circle or perhaps a stone oval would be more correct as it does seem slightly oval in shape.

The stones are all rough slabs of sandstone.

The Stone, Maen Mawr itself is about 7 feet high, nearly 3 feet thick, and about 4 feet wide. The site stands on a flat ridge away from the river in the valley and the views here are magnificent.

There is a theory that the Maen Mawr stone acts as the gnomon of a sundial, casting a shadow aligning with the small stones on midsummer day, I don't really buy into this theory but who knows?

Getting a little higher view makes it easier to see the circle part of this site, but I suspect the vegetation has overgrown too much as early records show as many more with Cadw (the Welsh Government's historic environment service) lists the site as having 20 Stones.

Click on images for full screen view

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Visit Information:-

Google Reference

51.87248150044887, -3.670084955951269

Google Search reference: Maen Mawr

What Three Words reference : ///skipped.prime.punctuate

Additional information

Visiting this site is quite easy as the main stone can be spotted from the road. Going north on the A4067 the left turn is a little over a kilometre past the Dan-Yr-Ogof visitors centre and just beyond the

Tafarn-y-Garreg Pub.

Once going north it is more difficult to spot but driving south it come into site on the right hand side over the other side of the river.

There are small pull ins along the road and although you will have to cross the river this is easily done.

The circle being low to the ground can not be seen from the road.

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