The previous adventure: The Castle in the Marsh.
The next adventure: Arthur's Labyrinth.
Return to Grannus' circle.
Go back to the front gate.
For once the sun was shining, and I soon found more signs of magic in this magical place. Two tall standing stones, far taller than I am, stood alone in a field near the road. They must have been at least ten feet tall. A sign informed me that they were the Penrhos Feilw Standing Stones. I could find out no more about them, but I crossed the field for a closer look. I had the stones to myself.
Only a short distance away, and still solitary, I came to Trefignath Burial Chamber, an ancient tomb now laid out for public display. There were once three burial chambers here, though the bones and pottery that were found within were taken away two hundred years ago. I walked around and examined the chambers. The earliest of them is a simple box made of rocks and surrounded by a cairn of boulders. The sign told me that it might have been raised around 3500 B.C. The second chamber, in the centre, has collapsed, and only the large stones remain. The third chamber is the most recent, perhaps 2250 B.C., and the most impressive. The walls and roof still stand, so the chamber remains enclosed and dark. Two great door-stones, one on each side of the entrance, tower over the structure. I had only to stoop a little to enter.
I wondered what the significance of this place had been, that many successive generations of chiefs were buried there. The rock itself is interesting, deeply grooved with lines that make it resemble a tree, so that I could almost believe it was petrified wood.
Whatever the significance, I knew the present inhabitants must feel it also, for this tomb had been left undisturbed, in spite of the industrial lots which surrounded it. I continued along the road, and through a town where I stopped only to pick up some food, and then I continued out to the end of the island, the area called Holyhead.
Of all the magical places on the island, this was clearly the most important. At the western end of the island, facing into the sea, stands the mountain at Holyhead. For thousands of years people have settled and worshipped here. It was once the seat of power for the Druids, but the history of Holyhead goes back much much farther. As I climbed the slope I found the remains of many earlier settlements, all the way back to stone hut circles.
Having seen much of the magic of this place, I left the Druids' Isle of Anglesey and travelled south, into the misty heart of Wales.
The previous adventure: The Castle in the Marsh.
The next adventure: Arthur's Labyrinth.
Return to Grannus' circle.
Go back to the front gate.