View N of Arthur's Stone Neolithic burial chamber on Cefn Bryn Common, Gower, Wales, UK. The capstone is a 25-ton glacial erratic of millstone grit.
View N of Arthur's Stone Neolithic burial chamber on Cefn Bryn Common, Gower, Wales, UK. A 25-ton earthfast glacial erratic of millstone grit was raised & underpinned allowing a two-compartment burial chamber to be dug out below it. The capstone has split into two pieces, one of which lies on the remains of a ring cairn surrounding the chamber; the cairn did not cover the in situ capstone. Ffynnon Fawr, a spring rising below the capstone, has long been used for cures, divination, fidelity tests & wishing; it is said to ebb & flow with the tide. St David is credited with causing the well to flow after splitting the capstone to prove it was not sacred. Legends of King Arthur include his throwing the capstone (an annoying pebble in his shoe) up on to Cefn Bryn from seven miles away, partly splitting it with Excalibur & emerging from under the stone on full moon nights dressed in shining armour. A proverb: "Like the labour of the Stone of Cetti" credits the mythical figure Cetti with building the dolmen. Henry Tudor on his way the the Battle of Bosworth is said to have visited the stone, & a young Dylan Thomas & friends held a kind of seance here. The sea is visible to the N & the S.
Size: 4961px × 3784px
Location: Arthur's Stone, Cefn Bryn Common, Reynoldston, Gower, Swansea, Wales, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ancient, archaeological, archaeology, arthur, arthurs, britain, broken, bryn, burial, cairn, capstone, cefn, celtic, ceti, cetti, chamber, chambered, common, cures, david, divination, dolmen, dylan, erratic, fawr, ffynnon, glacial, glamorgan, gower, great, grit, henry, holy, king, kingdom, landscape, maen, megalithic, megaliths, millstone, monument, mysterious, neolithic, pagan, pre-christian, prehistoric, prehistory, reynoldston, ring, sea, south, split, spring, st, stone, swansea, thomas, tomb, tudor, uk, united, view, wales, welsh, west, wishing
