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PRESELI MOUNTAIN: CARNMENYN SACRED SPRING CROMLECH

Gordon R. Freeman
Chemistry Dept., University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T6G 2G2
ABSTRACT
The so-called chambered tomb 380 m West-by-North of Carnmenyn is actually a small
cromlech and cairn built above a now dry Sacred Springhead (Pen y Tarddiant Sanctaidd). This
once-important, heavily-flowing Spring could have been the source of the healing properties
attributed to the Bluestones of Carnmenyn, and to those that were transported to Stonehenge.
INTRODUCTION
Names and spellings given to some of the rock clusters and streams on the east end of
Mynydd Preseli (Presli Mountain) vary among maps,1,2 and among articles about the place
written by different authors. The names used in the present work are based upon those given on
the 2006 OS Explorer Map OL35, North Pembrokeshire, scale 1 : 25,000.2 Some of the words
are joined together in the Welsh manner. The entries in the following list begin with the code
number or letters used on my maps and Google Earth images of the site (Figures 1 to 7):
(1) Cromlech and cairn covering the Sacred Springhead (Pen y Tarddiant Sanctaidd)
(2) Carnmenyn (Butter Cairn)
(3) Rhestr Gerrig, RG (Stone Row)
(4) Afon Tewgyll, AT (Fat Hazelnut River)
(5) Cerig Pant y Cadno (Fox Stony Dale)
(6) Tewgyll Fach (Small Fat Hazelnut)
(7) Cors Tewgyll (Fat Hazelnut Marsh)
CGA, Carnganol (Middle Cairn)
CGY, Carngyfrwy (Saddle Cairn)
CmI, Caermeini Isaf (Lower Stone Wall, one of three farms named Caermeini, the others being
Middle and Upper)
Carnalw (Meeting Place? Cairn)
Carnbica (Pointed Cairn)
Carnbreseb (Crib Cairn)
Carngoedog (Wooded Cairn)
Foeldrygarn (Reflection-Cairn Hill, or Hinge-Cairn Hill), not Three Cairn (Trigarn) Hill
Foelteml (Temple Hill)

THE LANDSCAPE
Darvill and Wainwright3-7 recognized that the healing properties attributed to the
Bluestones in Stonehenge derive from the healing properties of the Sacred Springs on Preseli
Mountain. But they did not identify the former principal Sacred Spring, west of Carnmenyn.
Relevant parts of the east end of Preseli Mountain are shown at various scales as contour
maps and Google Earth images in Figures 1 to 7, to distinguish between the features.
What Darvill and Wainwright3-7 call Stone River is actually Stone Row (Rhestr Gerrig,
marked (3) in the Figures). Fat Hazelnut River (Afon Tewgyll, marked (4) in the Figures) is
about 70 m west of Stone Row and runs nearly parallel to it (Figures 1 and 4). Stone Row is 0.9
km long and drains into Fat Hazelnut River, which has a total length of 2.5 km and joins the
Eastern Cleddau (Swords) River at Mynachlog-Ddu (Black Monastery). Stone Row is the dry,
rocky streambed of a formerly heavily flowing Spring; the stream now runs underground, and
feeds Fat Hazelnut Marsh (Cors Tewgyll). D&W conflated the names Stone Row and Fat
Hazelnut River to get Stone River.
Stone Row begins at the Cromlech and cairn over the Sacred Springhead (marked (1) in
Figures 2 and 5). A cromlech is a space between (crom) flat stones (lech), covered by a large
flat stone. The Cromlech is 70 m west of Carnmenyn Cairn (Figure 6), and is not in Carnmenyn
Cairn,3-7 as it is defined in Figures 2 and 6.
D&W 3-7 also conflated names of other features that are separate. I have carefully
distinguished the features so that they can be discussed without confusion (Figures 1 to 7).

Figure 1. A portion of the east end of Preseli Mountain, map OS Explorer OL35.5 The red
labels are identified in the list on page 1.

Figure 2. An enlarged portion of Figure 1. The red labels are identified in the list on page 1.

Figure 3. Google Earth image of the area mapped in Figure 1.

Figure 4. An enlarged portion of Figure 3, streambeds marked with dashes where they
need clarifying. Springs SP in the upper left feed branches of Afon Tewgyll (4).

Figure 5. Enlarged portion of Figure 4. Fox Stony Dale (5) appears to begin at a former
Springhead, as does Small Fat Hazelnut (6).

Figure 6. Enlarged portion of Figure 5. Carnmenyn Cairn is labeled CAIRN, and the
cromlech cairn (1) is 70 m west-by-north of it.

Figure 7. Enlargement of a portion of Figure 6, showing the head of the Stone Row (3), the
Cromlech cairn (1), and the Cromlech capstone CS. The Cromlech cairn covers the
Sacred Springhead, Pen y Tarddiant Sanctaidd.

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THE HEAD OF THE SACRED SPRING

Stone Row is the stony bed of a rapid stream that flowed from the Springhead. The
Spring water had healing properties. Sacred Springheads were later Christianized by calling
them Holy Wells, and belief in their healing properties continues today for many people. This
Spring went underground, so the former Springhead is now dry.
On October 4 and 5, 2014 I visited a Holy Well in the village Llanrhaeadr (Waterfall
Church), Denbighshire, Wales. In about the 2nd century AD Romans took over this ancient
Sacred Spring, and built a low wall at the Springhead to make a Pool (Figure 8). In the 6th
century a Church was built along side the stream, about 250 metres due East of the Springhead;
the village Llanrhaeadr is named after the Church and the healing Spring. In the 13th century the
present St. Dyfnog Church was built on that site. The streambed is lined with stones (Figure 9),
which probably remain from the dirt being washed away by the stream during the last ten
millennia. This streambed is a smaller-scale Row of Stones.

Figure 8. Pool at the Sacred Springhead in Llanrhaeadr, Wales. Looking west at the
Springhead in the end of the gully. The stream flows east through the opening at the
bottom of the photo. 5 Oct. 2014, photo 5 2.

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Figure 9. Stony streambed from the Sacred Spring in Llanrhaeadr, Wales. Looking southerly
across the stream. 5 Oct. 2014, photo 5 12.

The Stone Row (Rhestr Gerrig) and Fat Hazelnut River (Afon Tewgyll) on Preseli
Mountain are west of the Cromlech and cairn that cover the Sacred Springhead (Pen y Tarddiant
Sanctaidd) (Figure 10).
The Stone Row begins at the Cromlech, and does not extend to Carnmenyn Cairn
(Figure 11).
The orthostatic supports of the Cromlech collapsed toward the west (Figure 12a). The
westerly orthostat is about 1.0 m long, and the easterly two are each about 0.8 m. The capstone
size is about 2.7 m westerly x 2.4 m northerly x 0.5 m thick.
The Cromlech is open to the SW, and closed to the NE (Figure 12b). Healing water from
the Sacred Spring was accessible from the forecourt on the SW side. The person in need of
healing was positioned on the Southwest side, the direction of the Winter Solstice Sun set, the
direction that the weakened Sun needs to overcome. While accessing the healing water one

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Figure 10. (a) Looking SW from the Cromlech cairn and Capstone to the Stone Row (Rhestr
Gerrig) and Fat Hazelnut River (Afon Tewgyll). 1 Oct. 2014, photo 4 1.
(b) Looking W at the Stone Row entering the cairn and Cromlech. 1 Oct.
2014, photo 4 3.
(c) Looking SbyE to the cairn and collapsed Cromlech (Capstone CS). Stone Row
joins the cairn from the right; Caermeini Isaf (CmI) is faintly visible in the
distance. 1 Oct. 2014, photo 4 4.

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Figure 11. Looking ESE from the Cromlech capstone to Carnmenyn Cairn. Stone Row does
not extend past the Cromlech. 1 Oct. 2014, photo 4 16.

Figure 12. (a) Looking NE to the open side of the collapsed Cromlech. The orthostatic
supports (OS) beneath the capstone would have held the capstone at about the
level of the cairn top on the east side, and slightly above the cairn top on the
west, stream exit, side. 1 Oct. 2014, photo 3 17A.
(b) Looking SSW across the cairn and closed side of the Cromlech to the Stone
Row (RG) and Fat Hazelnut River (AT). Photo 3 15A.

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faced Northeast, the direction of the Summer Solstice Sun rise, a new beginning with the Sun at
its maximum strength.
The Cromlech and cairn were built over the principal Sacred Springhead in the Preseli
Sun Temple.
Somewhat analogous to this Cromlech is the Western Wall of Temple Mound in
Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall. When one prays at the Wall one is facing East, the direction of the
rising Sun.
In the mild climate of Jerusalem, winter weather is not life threatening, so the Solstices
are not crucial in the annual round of ceremonies. The Equalday/nights are more pivotal in the
Jewish lunar calendar. The Jewish New Year and the celebration of Passover after the Exodus
from Egypt in about the thirteenth century BC were both in the month of Barley harvest, near
the Spring Equalday/night. Much later, while the Jews were in captivity in Babylonia during the
sixth century BC, the Jewish New Year got moved to the time of the Babylonian New Year,
near the Autumn Equalday/night. Passover remained near the Spring Equalday/night. The
Christian Passover (Easter) was positioned near the Jewish Passover, a symbol of regeneration
in the Spring.
The sanctuaries in Carnmenyn8 are ESE of the Sacred Springhead (Figure 6). The knob
of Carnganol that is in the Solstice Sun rise and set alignments is due E of the Sacred
Springhead. The Church in Llanrhaeadr is due E of its associated Sacred Spring. Was the
Church built on an already existing ceremonial site?
Llach y Flaiddast and Chambered Tomb?
A wolf would not have made its den in a Spring, nor would humans have made a tomb
there. Pen y Tarddiant Sanctaidd is not the She-Wolfs Den (Llach y Flaiddast, a fine cromlech,
consisting of three upright stones, and a super-incumbent one of enormous magnitude)
mentioned by Warner in 1800.9 Nor is it a Chambered Tomb as suggested by several authors
during the past 50 years.
Acknowledgements
Babette Thomas guided me to the place that Darvill and Wainwright had called a
chambered tomb. Her husband John had carted us uphill to within a kilometer of the place. I am
grateful to the Thomas family for their kind hospitality.

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I am grateful for several communication with Tim Darvill, who sent me a Google Earth

image of the site, and copies of References 3 to 7.

REFERENCES
1. Old Ordnance Survey Map, 1909. North Pembrokeshire, sheet 210, scale 1 : 63,360, contour
interval 100 ft; Consett DH8 7PW, England: Alan Godfrey Maps, reprinted 2001. And other
maps of North Pembrokeshire in the 19th and 20th centuries.
2. Ordnance Survey Map. Explorer OL35, North Pembrokeshire, scale 1 : 25,000, contour
interval 5 m. Southampton, England: 2006.
3. T. Darvill and G. Wainwright, Antiquity, 76, 623 624 (2002)
4. T. Darvill, R. V. Davies. D. M. Evans, R. A. Ixer, and G. Wainwright, Archaeology in
Wales, 46, 100 107 (2006)
5. T. Darvill, G. Wainwright, K. Armstrong, and R. Ixer, SPACES: Sixth Report 2007-08, pp. 47
- 55.
6. T. Darvill and G. Wainwright, The Antiquaries Journal, 89, 1 19 (2009)
7. T. Darvill, G. Wainwright, F. Lueth, N. Mueller-Scheessel, SPACES: Seventh Report 200911, pp. 27 44.
8. G. R. Freeman, HIDDEN STONEHENGE: Ancient Temple in North America Reveals the
Key to Ancient Wonders, London: Watkins Publishing (2012), pages 146-7.
9. Revd Richard Warner, A Second Walk Through Wales, in August and September 1798, 2nd
edn. Bath: R. Cruttwell (1800)