A Pilgrimage to The Sacred Isle Part 2
The Burial Chambers
Hello, my fellow travellers of the old ways. Once again it has been too long since I have put fingers to keyboard and updated my blog page. Although my journey is continuing, I just haven’t had the time to be able to sit down and write about it and for this I once again apologise.
I have been promising to write about my trip to Anglesey and have already shared part 1 the wonders of this magical place with you all, I now have part 2 here. This is where I wanted to share with you some of the places I visited while I was there and give you a description of them, a brief history where possible and my feelings whilst there.
Bryn Celi Ddu Chambered Tomb
This was the most intact and accessible of the Burial Chambers I visited while on the island. I sat inside it for quite a while just connecting with the ancestors and the spirits of the place. It had a very calm and warm feel to it, the feeling of peace as I sat there with my eyes closed was……well its so hard to put into words.
To give you a brief history, Bryn Celi Ddu is a late neolithic passage grave in the European Atlantic tradition, it was excavated and partly restored around the mid 1920’s by WJ Hemp. Its basic structure comprises an outer circular stone kerb approx. 26m diameter with an inner stone arc, these both encircle a simple passage tomb the entrance of which lies on the East side.
It says that this passage tomb is “one of the finest in Wales” I can certainly vouch for this as it looked as if it had be very well cared for and maintained. To gain entrance to the chamber you pass through two standing stones, this enters into a forecourt and stone lined passage approx. 7m in length which in turn gives access to a central polygonal chamber made of large stone slabs. To the North angle of the chamber is a 1.7m high smooth stone pillar, this is known as the “Protectress” of “Tomb Guardian” which is in the same style as the Breton tombs. One of the chamber stones has what is probably a neolithic carving on it of a small spiral. In 1909 Sir Norman Lockyer stated the chambers alignment with the midsummer sunrise, this was
finally proven and documented in 2005 by Dr Steve Burrow of the National Museum of Wales. There is also a central pit which contained one of the most richly decorated Neolithic carved stones in Wales, this is now a cast on site as the original is in the Museum of Wales for safe keeping.
Bryn Celi Ddu sits at the heart of a ritual landscape, with a plough-levelled cairn to the South, a standing stone to the South-West and a cup-marked rock to the West. The arrangement and style of the passage tomb and the style of carvings is very similar to the passage tomb of Barclodiad y Gawres on Western Anglesey which I also visited and will write about later in this blog.
Trefignath Burial Chamber
It was one of the wettest day’s ever when we visited this Burial Chamber in Holyhead. In fact this was the only wet day we had throughout our week on Anglesey. As with a lot of these places the problem is actually finding them, they are not always signposted. We eventually found this one and it was the one in the most ruined condition. This didn’t take away the feeling surrounding the site, in actual fact this had the most amazing amount of energy despite its poor condition.
The Trefignath Burial Chamber is what is known as a Neolithic ceremonial or funerary monument with quite a complex structure. It was built in three separate stages from about 3750-3500 BC and is thought to have been active until about 2250 BC. Unfortunately the structure itself was greatly damaged in the late 18th century and the cairn that surrounded the stones was mostly removed around 1870. It was excavated around 1977-1979 before it was finally restored for public viewing. It is said that the chamber was built over a scatter of occupation debris including flints and pottery, which was carbon dated to around 3100 BC.
The first stage of the monument was a small chamber set in a cairn up to approx. 4m diameter, it opened to the North with a short passage. The second stage was a larger chamber built on the East side of the first stage, this cairn was incorporated into a much larger wedge-shaped cairn defined by dry stone walling.
This new chamber opened onto a recessed forecourt at the eastern end. The third stage saw the introduction of a new chamber built in the forecourt of the previous stage and the cairn was extended around it. In the final chamber there were tall portal stones on the East possibly standing more that 2m tall. There were fragments of bone found in this chamber when it was excavated.
As you can see in the pictures there are small flowers now growing amongst the rocks and stones a lovely example of life coming from death, a rebirth you could say.
Barclodiad Y Gawres
We visited this one on a slightly overcast day, from the road it stood out against the skyline due to its location, this was built on the cliff overlooking the see and was one that, as mentioned earlier, was built in a similar way to Bryn Celi Ddu.
From the road you could see in the distance a turf covered dome, the dome was constructed in 1953 after the site was excavated. It was l lovely walk along the cliff edge to reach this chamber, I have to admit I was slightly disappointed when we got there, not because of the chamber but because it is now locked with iron gates as it was quite often the target of vandalism in recent times. This, however, didn’t stop us from being able to see the chamber although it was done with a torch through the railings.
Barclodiad Y Gawres means the “Giantess Apronful. The turf covered dome replaced what was presumably a cobble stone cairn, this was said to have been heavily robbed in the 18th Century as an easily accessible source of building materials. The grave itself consists of a 6m long passage that leads to a central area with a terminal chamber and a pair of side chambers to the east and west. This style of chamber closely resembles those in Ireland, there are also further links with Ireland provided by the carved stones that make up the tomb. Three stones in the passage and two in the chambers are decorated with spirals and chevrons.
When Barclodiad Y Gawres was excavated the cremated remains of two youths were found in the western chamber as well as animal bones and a hearth containing many reptile and small mammal bones as well as fish and shellfish remnants.
I did manage to get some phots of the inside but not the detail I would have liked.
This brings me onto the last of the Burial chambers we visited, this one was the trickiest for me to find and like Barclodiad Y Gawres not accessible as it was surrounded by metal railings. This was Lligwy Burial Chamber.
Lligwy Burial Chamber
Lligwy Burial Chamber is a very strong, neolithic chamber. The eight uprights which support the massive capstone are larger than they at first appear, because half of their 2 m (6.6 ft) height is buried in the ground. The capstone is about 5.5 m (18.0 ft) long and 4.5 m (14.8 ft) wide, with a thickness of around 1 m (3.3 ft). It is estimated to weigh about 25 tonnes and is in contact with only three of the uprights. A gap between the uprights on the eastern side probably indicates where an entrance passage stood, with a way out of the mound; It is unclear whether this chambered tomb was covered by a cairn, but if it was, no trace remains today. Deep grooves in the limestone capstone imply that erosion by rainfall has taken place, further evidence that the structure may not have been covered by a cairn.
Excavations in 1909 discovered artefacts in two separate layers, indicating that the site was used during two separate periods. The bones from up to thirty people have been found in the chamber, as well as shellfish (mussels and limpets) and many animal bones. Fragments of pottery from the two different settlements periods are present; grooved ware dating to the Neolithic period and beaker ware from the early Bronze Age.
This was one of the burial chambers I went to more than once as it was so hard to find and nearly led to a domestic incident, my better half, who is very supportive of my endless madness, said she would wait in the car while I popped my head around the fence to see if I could spot the monument, it was an extremely hot day and we didn’t want our little dog to walk too far due to this, well to cut a long story short about an hour and two miles of separation later I phoned her to say I was heading back to the car as I couldn’t find it, it was at this point she let me know that I had the keys to the car in my pocket and she couldn’t put on the aircon, “ooppppssss” I remember saying as I put my hand in my pocket to discover them, let me just say the walk back was speedy with the added pressure of thoughts of my sudden demise. All ended well, we eventually found the chamber and I live to tell the tale.
I will leave it there for now and talk about the other places visited in the next blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this part of my pilgrimage and also enjoyed the photos, I tried to capture the essence of the sites, but nothing beats actually being there and feeling the energy.
As always, I will end on a poem. This one again is not related to my trip to Anglesey as such but in a way I feel that it is appropriate as it is to do with connection and I had a huge connection to the place when I first stood on the sacred ground. The poem believe it or not is called “Connecting”
Connecting
I lay my head upon a rock
And close my weary eyes
The ground beneath me is my bed
My blankets are the skies
I feel the love of Mother Earth
The wind her soft embrace
The gentle drops of summer rain
Her kiss upon my face
I lay a while in restful sleep
Protected in this space
Awoken slowly by the sun
That gently warms my face
To my feet I slowly rise
My journey to complete
Into the forest I now walk
The ground soft beneath my feet
I feel her love within the trees
As to me they quietly speak
Their branches lower, a magic sign
Their leaves softly stroke my cheek
Motionless in wonderment
Connecting deep inside
That soft caress, belonging
To the people woodlands hide
Slowly reaching out my hands
To the people standing there
I wrap my arms around the trunk
This hug I want to share
I press my forehead to the bark
My eyes begin to close
Visions burst into my mind
Of a past that no one knows
I know I must be on my way
But this connection that I share
With all the people of the woods
Will always bring me there
Take care my friends see you all again very soon I hope.
Blessed Be /|\