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Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber is in Plas Newydd, Anglesey, Prehistoric Anglesey Burial Chambers.
Mona Antiqua Restauranta 93 Druidical Monuments. But of such Cromleche as remain yet undemolished, there is but one besides that at Bodowyr to be seen in all these precincts; and that a very large one, before mentioned, standing near Plâs newydd [Map], formerly Llwyn Moel, where it is probable one of their larger groves was. It is a double1 Cromlech, a larger and a smaller contiguous together. There is also at Plâs newydd wood [Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber [Map]] one of the largest Carnedds in the Isle of Anglesey; yet scarce discerned and distinguished from a mount of earth, the stones being overgrown with earth and moss, and great trees growing thick upon it. It lies in a dry bottom, without any pillars now standing by it, fig. 2. There are also in Llanddaniel parish, at a place called formerly Llwyn Llwyd, now Bryn Kelli [Map], the remains of two Carnedds, within a few paces of one another; the one, fig. 3. is somewhat broken and pitted into on one side, where the stones have been carried away; the other, fig. 4. having had its stones almost all taken away into walls and buildings, with two standing columns erected between them.
Note 1. See plate VII. fig. I.
A Tour of Wales by Thomas Pennant Volume 4. Nor far from the Cromlech is a large Carnedd [Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber [Map]]: part has been removed, and within was difcovered a cell about seven feet long and three wide, covered at top with two flat stones, and lined on the sides with others. To get in I crept over a flag, placed across the entrance. On the top of the stone were two semicircular holes, of size sufficient to take in the human neck; it is conjectured that above might have been another; so that both together might perform the office of a stocks. It is indeed conjecture, yet not an improbable one, that in this place had been kept the wretches destined for sacrifice; as it is well known that they performed those execrable rites, and often upon captives who had suffered long imprisonment, perhaps in cells similar to this.
A Tour of Wales by Thomas Pennant Volume 4. Great Carnedd [Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber [Map]], The name of this place is taken from an immense Carnedd, or heap of stones, surrounded with great upright stones, in an adjacent field. It seems to have beneath it passages formed on the sides and tops with flat stones, or flags. These were the repositories of the dead. Not that bones or urns are also discovered in them; for the founders, like those of the pyramids of Egypt, appear often to be disappointed in their hopes of having their reliques lodged in these labored Mausoleums.
History of the Island of Mona. Mr. Pennant, on his mention of this curious remain, adopts Dr. Borlase's idea of chromlechau being cist-vaens, or mere cells for interment. But it is very remarkable, that (as it were in full confutation of his own and Borlase's conclusion) he immediately proceeds to describe an exceedingly large carnedd, (which indeed was manifestly a sepulchre, or burying place) just by the spot, which he most unaccountably conceives to have been a prison for confining prisoners for sacrifice, and most strangely mistakes a deep buried sepulchre for a prison, for living condemned captives. Rowland says the carnedd [Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber [Map]] near this cromlech, is one of the largest carneddau in the Isle of Mona, in his time hardly to be discerned and distinguished from a mount of earth, the stones being overgrown with earth and moss, and great trees growing thick upon it; and that it stands in a dry bottom, and without any pillars now standing by it. Since Rowland's time, on its being opened, there has been found underneath, a cell about seven feet long, and three wide, covered with two flat stones, and lined with others, and much more truly resembling a cist-vaen, than the cavity under the cromlech could, and indeed much fitter for a tomb than for a prison; and truly that carneddau, or great and high heaps of stones so called, did really cover tombs, we have a strong proof from what appeared on opening another large one in Mona, not far from this very spot; for here was found a passage1, three feet wide, four and a half feet high, and about nineteen and a half feet long, which led into a room of an irregular hexagonal form, having the sides composed of six rude slabs, one of which measured diagonally eight feet nine inches. And this little room was covered by one stone, near ten feet in diameter, which was also supported by a rude stone pillar in the middle, four feet eight inches in circumference; whilst all round the sides of the room was a stone bench, on which were found human bones that fell to dust almost at a touch.2
Note 1. Gouh's Camden, vol. 2, p. 570. Pennant's Tour in Wales, vol. 2, p. 262.
Note 2. Munimenta Antiqua, p. 223.
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Archaeological Journal Volume 28 1871 Pages 97-108. 2. Plas Newydd [aka Bryn yr Hen Bobl Burial Chamber [Map]]
Chambered Tumulus, described in the foregoing memoir by Mr. Stanley. The precise period when the excavations were made that brought to light the remarkable remains on the east side of the large mound has not been ascertained. It may be supposed, however, that the discovery of the cist, first described by Pennant, had occurred not long before his visit in 1781. Rowlands, about 1723, had noticed the mound as "one of the largest carnedds in Anglesey, yet scarce discerned and distinguished from a mount of earth, the stones being overgrown with earth and moss, and great trees growing thick upon it. It lies in a dry bottom, without any pillars now standing by it." Mona Antiqua, p. 94, second edit. The little representation of the mound, pi. vii., fig. 2, grotesquely unlike the object, is not without interest as shewing the oaks amidst masses of stone; the explanatory references indicate—"the even side 20 paces up;—the broken side,—the circumference 100 paces." There can be little doubt that the curious entrance to the internal cell had not at that time been exposed, and that it was unknown to Rowlands; it is probable that it was subsequently revealed on "the broken side" of the mound. It may likewise be inferred that it was not known to Mr. David Thomas, who would not have omitted to advert to so remarkable a peculiarity, in his "List of Cromlechau, or Druidical Altars in Anglesey." We there find mention only of an "artificial mount in the skirts of Plas Newydd wood, commonly called Bryn yr hen Bobl" [mound of the old people]; "supposed to have been a druidical sepulchral ground." Cambr. Reg., for 1796, vol. ii. p. 289. About 1858 some excavations were commenced by Mr. W. W. E. Wynne, of Peniarth, labourers having been placed at his disposal by Lady Willoughby de Broke, who for some time has resided at Plas Newydd. No fresh result was obtained; it is very probable, however, that, as suggested by Mr. Wynne at the Bangor meeting of the Cambrian Association, another cell or cromlech, if not more, remain, as in the Rodmarton tumulus, of which a plan and section are given by Mr. Stanley, fig. 5, supra, concealed within the mound; it were very desirable that further researches should be carried out. Arch. Cambr., third series, vol. vi. p. 369.
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