Scattered across the landscapes of North Wales are mysterious monuments that have stood sentinel over the landscape for over 4,000 years. The standing stones, constructed by our ancient ancestors, continue to puzzle and fascinate visitors to this day.
Ancient Builders
The standing stones are believed to have been built during the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age (between about 3500BC and 1400BC) and it took them over 2000 years. They were effective farmers and builders despite their little-known religion or why exactly they built these gigantic stones.
Anglesey itself contains over 120 prehistoric monuments and thus North Wales is one of Britain's most affluent prehistoric landscapes. Most of Anglesey's standing stones date between 4500 and 5000 years ago, and they are older than Stonehenge's famous trilithons!
Purpose and Mystery
Why did the ancient people push gigantic rocks over the ground and stand them upright? No one knows exactly. We can speculate that standing stones may have been used to gauge the position of the sun or ritual purposes such as fertility ceremony or markers of seasonal cycles for early agrarian societies. Some may have been ancient directional signs or border markers.
They are mostly located in elevated positions, often in sight of the Snowdonia mountain range, which suggests that these locations were chosen with utmost care due to their stunning outlook and spiritual beauty.
Outstanding Places to Go
Penrhos Feilw Standing Stones on Anglesey's Holy Island are among the finest. These Bronze Age standing stones stand approximately 10 feet tall and are approximately 10 feet apart. They are oriented northeast to southwest with stunning coast and Holyhead Mountain vistas.
Bryn Celli Ddu, 'the mound in the dark grove', allows visitors to crawl through an early burial chamber. It used to be a stone circle, but later was converted into a tomb.
Other hidden gems include the Soar Stone, a high stone beside the A5025 road near Llanfaethlu, and the mysterious Llanfechell Triangle - a strange grouping of three stones south of Cemaes.
The Stonehenge Connection
North Wales boasts an extraordinary link with England's most famous stone circle. Most archaeologists are sure that Preseli bluestones were carried intentionally from Welsh quarries to Wiltshire, a distance of some 700 miles. How fantastic an achievement suggests how highly these Welsh stones were valued by ancient Britons.
Visiting Today
Approach one of the standing stones and put your hand out flat on it. Keep your eyes closed and think about that – four millennia ago, someone else's hand was on the same surface. This quiet action establishes us intimately with our forebears in a way that not many other activities can equal.
All of the stones are mapped and freely accessible, although visitors are requested to preserve the land and these marked-down monuments. North Wales boasts one of the world's most accessible prehistoric landscapes in which ancient secrets remain waiting in fields and hilltops, just as they have for millennia.
