Bodorwedd Standing Stones
Also known asThe Llanfechell Triangle
Datedc. 3630–430 BCE
Photo Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Bodorwedd Standing Stones, also known as the Llanfechell Triangle or Llanfechell Stones, are a group of three standing stones (Welsh maen hir) about 600 m north-west of Llanfechell, near Amlwch, in the north of the island of Anglesey, Wales. The monument is a scheduled monument and a National Monument of Wales.
The stones are probably of Bronze Age date. Excavation beneath one of them produced a rock carving described as unique.
Read on Wikipedia1 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Bodorwedd Standing Stones
They lean inwards towards one another and stand about three metres apart on a small hill, from where they are visible from a distance.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Llanfechell TriangleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Llanfechell TriangleCC BY-SA 4.0
The three stones are about 2.0 m high, about 0.6 m thick and up to 1.2 m wide. They lean inwards towards one another and stand about three metres apart on a small hill, from where they are visible from a distance. They probably date from the Bronze Age.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Llanfechell TriangleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Llanfechell TriangleCC BY-SA 4.0
Excavation revealed at least 20 packing stones within the socket pit of one of the stones. On one of these, a packing stone of about 0.8 by 0.95 by 0.5 m lying beneath one of the standing stones, a cup-and-ring mark about 10 cm in diameter and a single cup had been pecked. The carving is described as unique.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Henges with stone settings
A henge is a Neolithic earthwork, typically a roughly circular or oval bank with an internal ditch around a central flat area more than 20 metres across. The ditch lies inside the bank, so henges cannot have been built for defence. There is typically little evidence of occupation inside a henge, though they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles or timber settings. The word is taken from Stonehenge, which is not a true henge, because its ditch lies outside its bank.
Many British henges have stone settings. Avebury in Wiltshire is a henge containing three stone circles, built over several hundred years in the third millennium BCE. In Orkney the Standing Stones of Stenness, sited on a promontory between two lochs, may be the oldest henge site in the British Isles, and the Ring of Brodgar, a henge and stone circle, stands on a narrow isthmus between the same lochs; both are part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. In Derbyshire, Arbor Low is a henge with an egg-shaped circle of about 50 limestone blocks, one partly upright and the rest lying flat. In Cumbria, Mayburgh Henge is a large bank on a knoll close to a second henge, King Arthur's Round Table. In Yorkshire the Thornborough Henges are three aligned henges on a plateau above the River Ure, dated between 3500 and 2500 BCE and called the Stonehenge of the North. At Durrington Walls, 3.2 kilometres north-east of Stonehenge, a large Neolithic settlement preceded the henge.
Stone settings inside a henge can be earlier or later than the bank, so a henge and its stones are dated separately.
When visiting, walk the bank to get the sense of the circle, and see how the entrance gaps line up with the landscape.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Henge, Wikipedia: Stonehenge, Wikipedia: Avebury, Wikipedia: Thornborough Henges, Wikipedia: Standing Stones of Stenness, Wikipedia: Ring of Brodgar · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
7 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
3630–430 BCEHow this date was established: Radiocarbon dating2 radiocarbon dates in the p3k14c database (Bird et al. 2022, Scientific Data 9:27 (p3k14c radiocarbon database)) between 2410 and 5540 BP; uncalibrated ages, shown as calendar years with the conventional BP + 1950 conversion.Source for this date
Where it stands
United Kingdom
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 53°23′48″ N, 4°27′43″ WFor a GPS or map app: 53.39654, -4.46199
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Baron Hill Maen Hir2800–1800 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Pen-y-Morwyd4000–800 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Barrow Between Rhosbeirio and Yr Efail4000–800 BCE
Standing Stone North-West of Pen-yr-Orsedd2800–1800 BCE- Pen-yr-Orsedd Standing Stones2800–1800 BCE
Standing Stone South-West of Pen-yr-Orsedd2800–1800 BCE- Menhir (standing stone)Bodewryd Standing Stone2800–1800 BCE
Tumulus at Ty-Newydd4000–800 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q15832600wikidata.org
- 02Source for this datep3k14c.org
Image files
- The Llanfechell Triangle - geograph.org.uk - 1260817.jpgEric JonesCC BY-SA 2.0
- Llanfechel standing stones - geograph.org.uk - 5476299.jpgGordon HattonCC BY-SA 2.0
- Llanfechell Standing Stones. - geograph.org.uk - 1060742.jpgRay WestCC BY-SA 2.0
- Standing Stones - Llanfechell - geograph.org.uk - 244305.jpgGeoff BarberCC BY-SA 2.0
- The Llanfechell Standing Stones from the south-west - geograph.org.uk - 1264632.jpgEric JonesCC BY-SA 2.0
- Three standing stones and a stile on the crest of a drumlin - geograph.org.uk - 1260797.jpgEric JonesCC BY-SA 2.0
- View south across the Llanfechell Triangle - geograph.org.uk - 1260835.jpgEric JonesCC BY-SA 2.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Baron Hill Maen Hir0.6 km E
- Pen-y-Morwyd2.1 km E
- Barrow Between Rhosbeirio and Yr Efail3.1 km E
- Standing Stone North-West of Pen-yr-Orsedd3.2 km W
- Pen-yr-Orsedd Standing Stones3.2 km W
- Standing Stone South-West of Pen-yr-Orsedd3.3 km SW
- Bodewryd Standing Stone4.5 km E
- Tumulus at Ty-Newydd4.8 km E
- Werthyr standing stone5.2 km E
- Glan-Alaw Standing Stone6.0 km S
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Llanfechell Triangle" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (German): Llanfechell TriangleCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q15832600CC0