Welsh Country - Issue93 - Mar-Apr 20

welsh connections
Bryn Celli Ddu chambered cairn © Chris Gunns (cc-by-sa/2.0)
Melin Maengwyn Windmill
An interesting fact is the alignment of the passage
opening. At the summer solstice, the rising sun enters the
passageway to the burial chamber and to the carved, stonelike,
petrified tree trunk found within, pouring light into the
whole chamber.
Recent geophysical surveys have found that there’s even
more. Even more in terms of other burial cairns. Four within
the area, spanning from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze.
This goes further back from the 3,000 BC to 5,000 BC. The
entire area, no doubt, has much more to reveal or to keep
secret!
Gaerwen with her sheep and cattle farms surrounding the
homes and businesses has an air of timelessness. Somewhat
understated - a village to simply pass through, with a more
recent industrial quarter added in the south and signposts
for camping and B&Bs - she has offered the world yet
another mystery.
In 1856, eleven late Bronze Age gold bracelets and eleven
penannular lock rings were discovered at an excavation
site at Cae Capel Eithin - Gaerwen. Only two rings and two
bracelets were preserved, the others were sold and used by
goldsmiths - the full value of the gold artefacts unrealised. A
much later discovery, put light on the previously unknown
source of those items during a Bronze Age excavation at
Gaerwen in 1980. A twelfth ring 38mm in diameter, crushed
and two feet below ground was turned up - identical to what
had been salvaged by the British museum.
With the knowledge that the burial of gold items in this
way to be significant, in addition to at least seventeen Bronze
Age burial pits uncovered within this locale, archaeologists
have more than confirmed that this area held immense
importance.
A realm of discovery. Gaerwen - and what of beyond the
hedgerows - under the homes and businesses, the industrial
quarter; beneath the streets - below the earth of Maes
Merddin, Lon Groes, Chapel Street, Ty Croes, Rhos Ellen
or even the A5 - what more secrets may lie there?
Words: Gillian Thomas
Next issue: Gillian visits Holyhead
Getting There
By car: A55 on Ffordd Caergybi -the Holyhead Road.
By train: Take train to Llangefni – then take the bus.
By bus: XB
Mar - Apr 2020 13