Skip to main content
×
×
Home

Stone Circles, Oval Settings and Henges in South-west Wales and Beyond

  • Timothy Darvill (a1), Geoffrey Wainwright (a2), Vanessa Constant, Yvette Staelens, Anna Stocks and Judith Wainwright...
Abstract

Topographical and geophysical surveys carried out in August 2002 at three monuments in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire are reported: Bedd Arthur, Gors Fawr and Meini Gwyr. Previously unrecorded features were revealed at all three sites, most spectacularly at Meini Gwyr which, from the evidence of geophysical survey, appears to be a multi-phase monument that includes a double pit-circle, hengi-form monument and embanked enclosure with an internal stone circle. Comparisons are made with plans prepared by Flinders Petrie in 1926, published here for the first time. A viewshed analysis of the surveyed sites and others of similar kind in the area allows an appreciation of landscape setting and intervisibility. It is suggested that the stone circles are sited in relation to upland stone sources. All the monuments considered here are compared with contemporary structures recorded elsewhere in the British Isles. It is concluded that while the stone circles and oval setting fit comfortably within a distribution pattern that extends across most of the British Isles, the later phases of Meini Gwyr at least belong to a more localized tradition of monument building focused on the Irish Sea region.

Copyright
References
Hide All
Looker-on, A 1852. ‘Ancient British remains’, Archaeol Cambrensis, 7, 26–7
Atkinson, R J C 1951. ‘The henge monuments of Great Britain’, in Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon. (eds Atkinson, R J C, Piggott, C M and Sandars, N K), 81107, Oxford
Barber, C and Williams, J G 1989. The Ancient Stones of Wales, Abergavenny
Barclay, G J and Maxwell, G S 1998. The Cleaven Dyke and Littleour, Soc Antiq Scotl Monogr Ser, 13, Edinburgh
Barclay, G J and Russell-White, C J 1993. ‘Excavations in the ceremonial complex of the fourth and second millennium BC at Bal-farg/Balbirnie, Glenrothes, Fife’, Proc Soc Antiq Scotl, 123, 43210
Barker, C T 1992. The Chambered Tombs of Southwest Wales, Oxbow Monogr, 14, Oxford
Barnatt, J 1989. Stone Circles of Britain. Taxonomic and Distributional Analysis and a Catalogue of Sites in England, Scotland and Wales, BAR Brit Ser, 215, 2 vols, Oxford
Bersu, G and Wilson, D 1966. Three Viking Graves in the Isle of Man, Soc Medieval Archaeol Monogr Ser, 1, London
Bevins, R E 1982. ‘Petrology and geochemistry of the Fishguard volcanic complex, Wales’, Geol J, 17, 121
Bevins, R E, Lees, G J and Roach, R A 1989. ‘Ordovician intrusions of the Strumble Head-Mynydd Preseli region, Wales: a volcanic arc to marginal base transition’, Proc Geol Ass, 95, 337–47
Bradley, R 1992. ‘The excavation of an oval barrow beside the Abingdon causewayed enclosure, Oxfordshire’, Proc Prehist Soc, 58, 127–42
Bradley, R and Edmunds, M 1993. Interpreting the Axe Trade. Production and Exchange in Neolithic Britain, Cambridge
Burl, A 1969. ‘Henges: internal features and regional groups’, Archaeol J, 126, 128
Burl, A 1976. The Stone Circles of the British Isles, New Haven and London
Burl, A 1985. Stone Circles: The Welsh Problem. The Ninth Beatrice de Cardi Lecture, London
Burl, A 1988a. ‘Coves, structural enigmas of the Neolithic’, Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist Mag, 82, 118
Burl, A 1988b. Four-posters. Bronze Age Stone Circles of Western Europe, BAR Brit Ser, 195, Oxford
Burl, A 1994. ‘Stonehenge: slaughter, sacrifice and sunshine’, Wiltshire Archaeol Natur Hist Mag, 87, 8595
Burl, A 2000. The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, New Haven and London
Bushell, W D 1911. ‘Amongst the Prescelly circles’, Archaeol Cambrensis, 11, 287333
Camden, W (ed Gibson, E) 1695. Britannia, London
Clark, A 1990. Seeing Beneath the Soil. Prospecting Methods in Archaeology, London
Clark, J G D 1936. ‘The timber monument at Arminghall and its affinities’, Proc Prehist Soc, 2, 151
Cleal, R M J, Walker, K E and Montague, R 1995. Stonehenge in its Landscape. Twentieth-century Excavations, Engl Heritage Archaeol Rep, 10, London
Clough, T H McK and Cummins, W A 1988. Stone Axe Studies, Volume 2, CBA Res Rep, 67, London
Collins, A E P and Waterman, D M 1955. Millin Bay: A Late Neolithic Site in Co. Down, Belfast
Condit, T and Simpson, D D A 1998. ‘Irish hengiform enclosures and related monuments: a review’, in Prehistoric Ritual and Religion. Essays in Honour of Aubrey Burl (eds Gibson, A and Simpson, D), 4561, Stroud
Cooney, G and Mandal, S 1998. The Irish Stone Axe Project. Monograph I, Dublin
Darvill, T 1989. Monuments Protection Programme Monument Class Description: Tor Cairns, London (limited circulation English Heritage printed report)
Darvill, T and Wainwright, G 2002. ‘SPACES –exploring Neolithic landscapes in the Strum-ble-Preseli area of southwest Wales’, Antiquity, 76, 623–4
David, A 1995. Geophysical Survey in Archaeological Field Evaluation, English Heritage Research and Professional Services Guideline 1, London
David, A 1998. ‘Stanton Drew: new light on a megalithic monument’, Minerva, 9.2, 67
David, A and Williams, G 1995. ‘Stone axe manufacture: new evidence from the Presceli Hills, west Wales’, Proc Prehist Soc, 61, 433–60
Drewett, P 1975. ‘The excavation of an oval burial mound of the third millennium BC at Alfriston, east Sussex, 1974’, Proc Prehist Soc, 41, 119–52
Drewett, P 1983. ‘Mynydd Preseli 1983. 1st Interim Report’, London (limited circulation duplicated report, Institute of Archaeology, University of London)
Drewett, P 1986. ‘The excavation of a Neolithic oval barrow at North Marden, West Sussex, 1982’, Proc Prehist Soc, 52, 3151
Drower, M S 1995. Flinders Petrie. A Life in Archaeology, 2nd edn, Madison, Wise
Emery, F 1958. ‘Edward Lhwyd and the 1695 Britannia’, Antiquity, 32, 179–82
Evans, G E 1923. ‘Dug-out boat’, Archaeol Cambrensis, 78, 163–4
Evans, J G 1990. ‘An archaeological survey of Skomer Island, Dyfed’, Proc Prehist Soc, 56, 247–67
Fenton, M B 1988. ‘The petrological identification of stone battle-axes and axe-hammers from Scotland’, in Stone Axe Studies, Volume 2 (eds Clough, T H McK and Cummins, W A), CBA Res Rep, 67, 92132, London
Figgis, N P 2001. Prehistoric Preseli. A Field Guide, Machynlleth
Fox, C 1926. ‘A dug-out canoe from South Wales: with notes on the chronology, typology and distribution of monoxylous craft in England and Wales’, Antiq J, 6, 121–51
Gibson, A 1994. ‘Excavations at the Sarn-y-bryn-Caled cursus complex, Welshpool, Powys, and the timber circles of Great Britain and Ireland’, Proc Prehist Soc, 60, 143224
Griffiths, W E 1960. ‘The excavation of stone circles near Penmaenmawr, North Wales’, Proc Prehist Soc, 26, 303–39
Grimes, W F 1939. ‘Meini Gwyr, Carmarthenshire’, Bull Board Celtic Stud, 9 (1937–9), 373–4
Grimes, W F 1950. ‘Contributions for a field archaeology of Pembrokeshire: I. The archaeology of Skomer Island’, Archaeol Cambrensis, 101, 120
Grimes, W F 1951. The Prehistory of Wales, Cardiff
Grimes, W F 1963. ‘The stone circles and related monuments of Wales’, in Culture and Environment. Essays in Honour of Sir Cyril Fox (eds Foster, I L L and Alcock, L), 93152, London
Grimes, W F 1965. ‘Neolithic Wales’, in Prehistoric and Early Wales (eds Foster, I L L and Daniel, G), 3570, London
Grogan, E and Hillery, T 1993. A Guide to the Archaeology of County Wicklow, Wicklow
Harding, A F and Lee, G E 1987. Henge Monuments and Related Sites of Great Britain. Air Photographic Evidence and Catalogue, BAR Brit Ser, 175, Oxford
Houlder, C 1988. ‘The petrological identification of stone implements from Wales’, in Stone Axe Studies, Volume 2 (eds Clough, T H McK and Cummins, W A), CBA Res Rep, 67, 133–6, London
Johnson, N and Rose, P 1994. Bodmin Moor. An Archaeological Survey. Volume I: The Human Landscape to c. 1800, London and Truro
Jones, D 1998. ‘Long barrows and Neolithic elongated enclosures in Lincolnshire: an analysis of the air photographic evidence’, Proc Prehist Soc, 64, 83114
Keiller, A 1936. ‘Two axes of Presely stone from Ireland’, Antiquity, 10, 220–1
Kinnes, I 1979. Round Barrows and Ring-ditches in the British Neolithic, Brit Mus Occas Pap, 7, London
Kirk, T and Williams, G 2000. ‘Glandy Cross: a later prehistoric monumental complex in Carmarthenshire, Wales’, Proc Prehist Soc, 66, 257–96
Lewis, M P 1992. ‘The prehistory of South West Wales, 7500–3600 BP: an interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental and archaeological investigation’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Wales at Lampeter
Loveday, R and Petchey, M 1982. ‘Oblong ditches: a discussion and some new evidence’, Aerial Archaeol, 8, 1724
Lynch, F 1972. ‘Ring-cairns and related monuments in Wales’, Scot Archaeol Forum, 4, 6180
Lynch, F, Aldhouse-Green, S and Davies, J L 2000. Prehistoric Wales, Stroud
McLeod, A G 1938. ‘Excavation of two Bronze Age burial sites in Ayrshire’, Proc Soc Antiq Scotl, 72 (1937–8), 235–47
Murphy, K and Ludlow, N 2001. Characterisation of Three Landscapes on the Register of Landscapes of Outstanding Historic Interest in Wales –Preseli, St David's Peninsula and Ramsey Island; and Skomer Island, Cambria Archaeology: Project Record No. 42600 (limited circulation printed report)
O'Riordain, S P 1951. ‘Lough Gur excavations. The Great Stone Circle (B) in Grange Town-land’, Proc Roy Ir Acad, C, 54, 3774
Piggott, S 1985. William Stukeley. An Eighteenth-century Antiquary, 2nd edn, London
Piggott, S and Simpson, D D A 1971. ‘Excavation of a stone circle at Croft Moraig, Perthshire, Scotland’, Proc Prehist Soc, 37, pt I, 115
Pryor, F M M and French, C A I 1985. The Fenland Project, Number 1: Archaeology and Environment in the Lower Welland Valley. Volume 1, E Anglian Archaeol Rep, 27, Cambridge
RCAHMW [Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales] 1925. An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire VII – County of Pembroke, London
RCHME [Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England] 1979. Long Barrows in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, London
Roese, H E 1980. ‘Some aspects of topographic locations of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in Wales. II. Henges and circles’, Bull Board Celtic Stud, 29 (1980–2), 164–70
Savory, H N 1980. ‘The Neolithic in Wales’, in Culture and Environment in Prehistoric Wales (ed Taylor, J A), BAR Brit Ser, 76, 207–31, Oxford
Seymour, W P 1985. ‘The environmental history of the Preseli region of south-west Wales over the past 12,000 years’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aberystwyth
Simpson, D D A 1996. ‘Excavation of a kerbed funerary monument at Stoneyfield, Raigmore, Highland, 1972–73’, Proc Soc Antiq Scotl, 126, 5386
Slater, F M and Seymour, E 1977. ‘Esgyrn Bottom –the most westerly raised bog in Wales’, Proc Birmingham Natur Hist Soc, 23, 193205
Stukeley, W 1776. Itinerarium Curiosum. Centuria II, London
Thom, A 1966. ‘Megaliths and mathematics’, Antiquity, 40, 121–8
Thom, A 1967. Megalithic Sites in Britain, Oxford
Thomas, H H 1923. ‘The source of the stones of Stonehenge’, Antiq J, 3, 239–60
Thorpe, R S, Williams-Thorpe, O, Jenkins, D G and Watson, J S 1991. ‘The geological sources and transport of the bluestone of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK’, Proc Prehist Soc, 57, pt 2, 103–59
Topping, P 1992. ‘The Penrith Henges: a survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England’, Proc Prehist Soc, 58, 249–64
Turnbull, P 1991. Excavations at Oddendale, 1990: Interim Summary, Kendal
Varley, W J 1938. ‘The Bleasdale circle’, Antiq J, 18, 154–71
Wainwright, G J 1969. ‘A review of henge monuments in the light of recent research’, Proc Prehist Sodc, 35, 112–33
Walker, M J C, Buckley, S L and Caseldine, A 2001. ‘Landscape change and human impact in west Wales during the late glacial and Flan-drian’, in The Quaternary of West Wales. Field Guide (eds Walker, M J C and McCarroll, D), 1731, London: Quat Res Ass
Ward, P A, Williams, G H, Marshall, E C and Darke, I M 1987. ‘The Glandy Cross complex’, Archaeology in Wales, 27, 913
Whittle, A 1991. ‘Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire: excavations at the Neolithic tomb in 1962–3 by R J C Atkinson and S Piggott’, Proc Prehist Soc, 57, pt 1, 61101
Woodward, A 2000. British Barrows. A Matter of Life and Death, Stroud
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

The Antiquaries Journal
  • ISSN: 0003-5815
  • EISSN: 1758-5309
  • URL: /core/journals/antiquaries-journal
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *
×

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 13 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 287 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between September 2016 - 13th June 2018. This data will be updated every 24 hours.