Ancient Stones Of Pentre Ifan

Out we went into the Welsh countryside to find an ancient burial site.

Black and white photo of standing stones on a field. Four large stones hold up a huge roof stone weighing 16 tonnes.

Pentre Ifan, it turns out, is very cool, definitely out in the middle of nowhere, and bloody old as!

.. the Pentre Ifan Dolmen is a collection of seven principal stones. The largest is the huge capstone, 5m long, 2.4m width and 0.9m thick. It is estimated to weigh 16 tonnes and rests on the tips of three other stones, some 2.5m off the ground. There are six upright stones, three of which support the capstone. Of the remaining three, two portal stones form an entrance and the third, at an angle, appears to block the doorway.

It was a dolmen, a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb.

The dolmen dates from around 3500 BC, and has traditionally been identified as a communal burial. Under this theory the existing stones formed the portal and main chamber of the tomb, which would originally have been covered by a large mound of stones about 30m long and 17m wide. Some of the kerbstones, marking the edge of the mound, have been identified during excavations

... or was it?

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Days 6 & 7
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, Aberystwyth - Devil's Bridge - Pentre Ifan “Burial Chamber” - St Davids Cathedral - Solva & roads - Usk - HOME!

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