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Ancient Sites
St Patrick's Well
Around 450AD St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland is supposed to have preached on the banks of Ullswater in Cumbria. The whole Patterdale area is named after him. In Glenridding a Holy Well dedicated to St Patrick can still be found roughly one mile outside of the village of Glenridding. Read More »
St Patrick’s Chair and Well
St Patrick’s Chair and Well (also known as the Druids Chair and Well or St Brigid’s Well or St Brigit’s Well) lies within Altadeven Wood, not far from the Ulster Way footpath. The chair is a huge 2m high stone block, shaped like a throne. Read More »
St Patrick’s Purgatory, Saint's Island
According to tradition, whilst St Patrick was converting the Irish pagans to Christianity in the 5th century, he had a vision whilst in a cave on Saints Island, just off the shore of Lough Derg. Read More »
St Peters, Llanbedr
St Peters Church in Llanbedr is where you can find, behind the rear pew, an ancient engraved stone that stands two foot nine inches in height and two foot wide. The engraving is that of a seven turn spiral measuring twelve inches in diameter. It is said to be similar to those associated with the Irish Boyne culture. Read More »
St Queran's Well
The water was believed to have healing properties and is dedicated to a 9th century saint. Proof of a long tradition of leaving items at the well was discovered when the well was cleared in 1870: hundreds of coins, bent pins and other objects were discovered beneath the mud. Some of these can still be seen in the Dumfries Museum.
St Sidwell's (Sativola's or Sadfyl's) Well
According to 'The Legendary Lore Of The Holy Wells Of England' by Robert Charles Hope (1893). 'On the spot where St. Sidwella is reputed to have been martyred is the well dedicated in her honour; it is situated on the left-hand of the Exeter side of the tunnel leaving the city, at a place called Lion's Holt. Read More »
St Simon's Well
According to Edmund Bogg in “From Eden Vale to the plains of York or A Thousand Miles in the Valleys of the Nidd and Yore" (1894) ”In the township of East Scrafton is a spring of water known as St. Simon's Well. Near it once stood an oratory called St. Simon's Chapel; not a vestige of this remains. The well was formerly used as a bath. Tradition says that St. Read More »
The Buggane of St Trinians
St Trinian's church is the ruined shell of a 14th Century building standing at the foot of Mount Greeba on the Isle of Man. The chapel was the haunt of a Buggane: a fearsome creature of Manx folklore that appears in a number of folktales from the island. Read More »
St Tudno and St Tudno’s Church
Saint Tudno (pronounced Tidno) was allegedly one of the seven sons of King Seithenyn, whose legendary kingdom Cantref y Gwaelod (see The Lost Land of Wales) in Cardigan Bay was submerged by tidal activity. In reparation of his father’s neglect, he studied at St. Read More »
St. Beuno's Well
Saint Bueno was born in Powys, and became a missionary who had the protection of the King of Gwynedd, Cadfan. Bueno was awarded the village of Clynnog Fawr where he founded a church in 630.AD. Later the site became a monastery of great importance in Wales, since manuscripts have been found to say that the Abbot of Clynnog was entitled to a seat at the court of the King of Gwynedd. Read More »
Stanton Drew Stone Circle
The Neolithic ritual site of Stanton Drew consists of three stone circles and a group of stones referred to as 'The Cove'. The largest of the circles known as the Great Circle consists of 27 stones, most of which are recumbent (lying down) having fallen in the past. Read More »
Steinacleit
This array of boulders marks what is left of a chambered cairn, and possibly shows the site was overlain by a huge hall. The site is 50 feet in diameter and oval in shape. The age of the site is debatable and according to different sources ranges from from 1800 - 1500 BC or 3000 - 1500 BC.
Directions: Steinacleit is at Siadar on the A857.
Stemster Hill Standing Stones
The standing stones below Stemster Hill, are unusual in that they consist of a U shape, rather than the traditional stone circle. Their real purpose is unknown but they may have had an astronomical usage.
Directions: On a minor road off the A9 and the A99
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is probably the most recognisable and enigmatic stone circle in Britain. The structure has fascinated people for centuries, and there are many theories as to what purpose it was put to by ancient man. Stonehenge has suffered over the years from trophy hunters, and the wear and tear of many visitors. Read More »
Stoney Littleton Long Barrow
This early Neolithic Long Barrow was constructed around 3700BC. The forecourt is flanked by two projecting horns, which frame the entrance to the passageway. The actual passageway extends under the mound for 48 feet and has 3 chambers on either side of the passage and 1 end chamber. These were found to contain a mixed group of bones some of them burned, from a number of different burials. Read More »
Strange Project Albion
Project Albion is part of one of ASSAP’s longest running and most successful research endeavours and it has been likened to a Domesday book of the paranormal. It is an attempt to record the full spectrum of anomalies, past and present, within their geographical, as well as historical, context. Read More »
Strata Florida Abbey
The abbey was founded in early part of the 13th century by the Cistercian monks, and was one of the grandest in Wales at its height. It was seen as a centre of education and political activity. The abbey was destroyed during the reformation. Read More »
Swinside Stone Circle
A beautiful solitary stone circle, the stones are said to be uncountable, there is also a legend which suggests a church buried beneath the stones. It is sometimes referred to as the Sunkenkirk for this very reason. The circle is also referred to as the 'grey cobbles'. Read More »
The Bridestones
The Bridestones are a set of natural weathered stones that are thought to have been used for ancient worship. A weathered horned head is carved into one of the stones, the date of the carving unknown.
Directions: To the East of the A169 Northeast of Lockton.
The Broad Town White Horse
According to an article on the Gazette and Herald website ‘THE origins of the Broad Town White Horse are somewhat confused. Located three miles south of Wootton Bassett, the horse is on a steep slope on land belonging to Littletown Farm. Read More »
The Chalice Well, Glastonbury
The Chalice Well has been associated with healing and with the Holy Grail for many years. According to legend Joseph of Arimethea placed the cup that held the blood of Christ into the well. The waters run red with Iron Oxide another association with blood. Read More »
The Copper Mines of the Great Orme
The Great Orme officially has 'The Largest Prehistoric Copper Mines in the World' according to the Guinness World Records team. There are more than five miles of tunnels and passageways that have been explored so far. The mining began in the Bronze Age, about four thousand years ago, when the mining tools included animal bones and stone hammers. Read More »
The Devil's Arrows
The Devil's Arrows are three Neolithic Megaliths - the tallest of which is 23 feet high - standing in a crooked alignment of around 580 feet. The fourth stone was destroyed in the 16th century, when Camden noted that it had been pulled down by treasure seekers.
In legend they were thrown by the Devil from Howe Hill to destroy Aldborough, hence their common name. Read More »
The Granny Stane
The squat black rock, which sits in the river Irvine below the modern Rivergate shopping centre, is once thought to have belonged to a stone circle. Read More »
The Grey Cairns of Camster
The Camster Cairns are some of the best-preserved Neolithic burial mounds in Scotland. They date from around 3500BC, and are developed sites, in that they were used over a long period of time. Read More »
