Druid’s Circle, Penmaenmawr
‘Face’ – Druid’s Circle
| Date | 12 May 2012 | ||
| Location | Cefn Coch, Penmaenmawr | SH 72283 74670; 53.25361°N, 3.91583°W | |
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Information |
Known in Welsh as Meini Hirion and in English as Druid’s Circle, this Bronze Age stone circle is located on Cefn Coch, close the North Wales Path above Penmaenmawr. The 35-metre-diameter ritual monument originally comprised 13 standing stones, two of which are now missing. It is considered to be one of the finest such examples in Wales. Druids Circle, Penmaenmawr (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales)
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Druid’s Circle, looking towards Foel Lus (upper left)
Druid’s Circle
Druid’s Circle
Druid’s Circle
Druid’s Circle, looking towards Tal y Fan
Druid’s Circle
‘Meini Hirion’ means standing stones which sounds a bit generic, are we sure that there is not a more descriptive local name in Welsh for this monument please?
Great pictures – thanks
Kris
May 15, 2012 at 2:15 am
Thanks Kris. According to various sources, this is the local name for the circle. The Penmaenmawr and Dwygyfylchi Tourism site (http://www.penmaenmawr.com), for example, has this to say:
Graham Stephen
May 15, 2012 at 7:45 am
A couple decades ago my husband and I spent three weeks hopping from one stone circle to another all over England and Scotland. Tiny or vast, they were all fascinating. Thanks for the pictures. You brought back some great memories for me.
lsmoore
May 16, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad the photos served to bring back memories.
Graham Stephen
May 16, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Very interesting. I’m trying to wrap my head around the practicality of the circle rather than as an ancient calendar system or religious/spiritual place since that is all I know about when I hear of ancient circles. Obviously, we don’t have these here in the States. I’d love to visit one some day.
Dezra Despain
May 18, 2012 at 12:44 pm
I remember being a little disappointed many, many years ago when I visited Stonehenge – it all seemed smaller than I had imagined from having seen photographs and the stones were all roped off so you couldn’t get very close. I have to say I far prefer visiting non-controlled relics and remains out in the wild like this one.
Graham Stephen
May 18, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Aubrey Burl (1995) refers to this circle as ‘the tall stones’ [y meini hirion]. The circle appears to be aligned with sun and moon so is calendrical (practical) and also of religious significance going by associated finds. It must be possible that the circle served more than one group in the 5000 years or so of its existence. The circle pre-dates the historical druids of the Iron Age by some two millennia.
Kris
May 18, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Thanks for the additional information Kris. Yes, the English name is something of a misnomer. Incidentally, when the site was excavated in 1958, cremation deposits were found, amongst other places, at the centre of the circle.
Graham Stephen
May 18, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Yes, also fragments of quartz were discovered, that may form a pattern – Newgrange is associated with quartz – so there is perhaps a shared symbolism. The cremation deposits might be secondary features, these sites were sometimes used over and again; at Knowlton in Dorset for example a church, now long abandoned, was erected in the centre of an earthen henge.
Kris
May 18, 2012 at 7:57 pm