Burial Mounds Gazetteer

History, the ritual landscape and geometry once resonated very much as one. Faint traces of our ancestors whose silent whispers in the landscape once conveyed so much awe and splendour now sadly lie silent, their purpose and meaning largely forgotten, for in general there is a present day lack of any real sense of connectedness. Read More »

Balfarg Henge and Bilbirnie Stone circle now sit in the midst of a housing estate separated by the A92, which runs through the site. Read More »

This burial mound has five carved stones within its chamber, now capped by concrete to prevent their erosion. The stones are carved with a range of patterns including spirals cup marks and zig-zag features. The purpose of these marks is unknown, but they may have had some ritual function. Read More »

Barpa Langass is a Neolithic chambered cairn, which now survives as a jumbled mass of stone overlooking a moonscape of barren peatland. The cairn is roughly 16 feet high, and around 82 feet across. Read More »

The whole area around Dyfed is associated with Arthur, outlined in the old Welsh tales now part of the Mabinogion. This cairn on the hilltop is thought to be Arthur's Grave.

Directions: The grave is in the Prescely Mountains

The chambered tomb called the Bedd Branwen, is said to be the resting place of Branwen, the legendary wife of Bran described in early Welsh stories.

Directions: To the East of Elim.

Bedd-yr-Afanc means the monsters grave, the Afanc being a name commonly given to a water monster in Wales. The grave is actually the only Bronze Age Gallery Grave in Wales and dates from around 1500BC. Just two rows of parallel stones survive. According to legend the Afanc used to dwell in a pool by Brynberian Bridge, and was captured and killed then buried in this mound on the hillside. Read More »

Bronze Age barrows on the down are known as the music barrows, and are traditionally thought to be home of the fairy folk. According to folklore it was possible to hear the fairy revelry if you placed your ear to the barrows at midday.

Directions:
A public footpath runs near the down reached from the South West Coast Path. Read More »

A horseman garbed in Bronze Age attire has been seen on Bottlebush Down. He disappears into a long barrow from the site of a cursus on the B3081. Many witnesses including respected Archaeologists have seen the spirit. Bottlebush Down seems to have been important to early man and is littered with his remains.

This Long Barrow standing on Congleton Edge, is thought to date from around 3000BC during the Mid Neolithic period. The barrow is aligned East to West and contains a chamber in the Eastern end. Excavated during the 18th century much of the covering mound was destroyed along with 2 other chambers. Read More »

The name of this site translates as the mound in the dark grove. It is a developed site, which changed in ritual use and importance during the Neolithic and Bronze age period. Read More »

The Clava Cairns - or more correctly Bulnaraun of Clava - is one of the best preserved Bronze Age burial sites in Scotland. There are three cairns here, two with passage ways aligned to the Midwinter sunset, and all with more subtle features, incorporated to reflect the importance of the South-west horizon. Read More »

Carn Gluze Long Barrow is a developed site that has seen burials over a long period of time. Early in the history of the barrow a deep shaft was built in the centre of the monument with steps leading down into it, its purpose is unclear although theories of ritual usage have been expounded. Read More »

Castlerigg Stone Circle is one of the finest in Cumbria, it is spectacularly situated within a panorama of rugged hills of ever changing character, depending on the mercurial Lakeland weather. Read More »

Chun Quoit: by Daniel Parkinson

Chun Quoit is one of the most recognisable of the Bronze Age burial cairns in the Penwith area.

Directions: On a footpath from a minor road off the B3306.

To the West of Newbury lie the villages of Kintbury and Inkpen. From here, you can follow a pleasant country road climbing the chalk downs to the south. There are a couple of viewing places near the summit of Combe down, and the scenery is fantastic for miles around.

Here you will find Combe gibbet, and the remains of the Iron Age (600 BC to 50 AD) Walbury hill fort (SU3761). Read More »

The passage grave of Corrimory in Glen Urquart, consists of a circular mound of river pebbles enclosed by an outer kerb, and a ring of 11 standing stones. The construction of the cairn is of the Clava style, as the cairns at Bulnaraun of Clava are used as a standard for cairns of this period and region. Read More »

The Cors-y-Gedol burial chamber which still has it's capstone intact is also referred to as Arthur’s Quoit and can be found close to some ancient hut circles known as the Irishmen’s huts on the slope of Moelfre. Read More »

Behind the local school at Dyffryn Ardudwy and reached by a sign posted footpath two exposed cromlechs are visible amidst a field of stones. The cromlechs are about twenty feet apart and the stones that surround them mark the remains of the huge cairn that would have covered these graves that date back to the Neolithic period. Read More »

Two prehistoric henge monuments have become known as Arthur's round table, a common theme in folklore were ancient structures become romanticised into legendary sites.  A cave near Eamont Bridge called giants cave is associated with two legendary giants called Tarquin and Isir. Read More »

This Bronze Age barrow cemetery consists of eight barrows, despite what the name of the site suggests. It is thought that the barrows were constructed over a long period of time perhaps as much as 500 years, suggesting the site may have been seen as a special place, reserved for the important members of the community. Read More »

The Giant's Graves are actually early Bronze Age horned galley graves with a central chamber. The covering mound has long since weathered away, leaving the inner chamber as a jumble of upright stones standing over a narrow stone lined depression in the ground. Read More »

Three ancient stones on the road to Fruid Reservoir from Tweedsmuir are linked with the legend and death of Jack the Giantkiller. Read More »

Originally the hill served as the site of a Middle Neolithic Causeway Camp, such as the one at Windmill Hill in Avebury. The camp was enclosed by causeway ditches to the Eastern end of the hillside, perhaps protected by wooden palisades, evidence suggests the camp was attacked by archers in an inter tribal skirmish. Read More »

The Hill of Tara – ancient seat of the Kings of Ireland – is the focal point in a complex landscape of ancient monuments dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. It is a stirring setting where mythology and history fuse together, and has been revered as a holy site for thousands of years. Read More »

The Kilmartin Valley is home to one of the most varied collections of prehistoric sites in the whole of Scotland. Bronze Age cairns, Neolithic chambered tombs, and enigmatic rock carvings, can all be found within a two-mile radius from Kilmartin village. Read More »

A Bronze Age cromlech is said to mark the grave of Kit, who was killed in a fifth century battle. The battle is also said to be re-fought by ghostly soldiers.

Knebworth has a number of legends and ghost stories, it was home to Sir Bulwer Lytton, the Victorian author with an avid interest in the occult. He was certainly involved with many people who were major players in occult thought from that time, including Eliphas Levi, the famous French Magus who visited Knebworth on several occasions. Read More »

Knockinarea is the name of the prominent mountain on the Cuil Irra peninsula to the west of Sligo, County Sligo. The name of the hill has been interpreted as: The Hill of the King, The Hill of the Moon and The Hill of the Executioner amongst other things, and dominates the views from miles around. Read More »

The area around Knowlton formed a major ritual site in the Neolithic period, the main focus being three Neolithic henge earthworks. Two have long since been ploughed and weathered away, but one remains with the ruin of a twelfth century Norman church at its centre, probably some form of controlling pagan sites by the early church. Read More »

La Hogue Bie is a major Neolitic ritual site dating back to 3500BC and one of the best preserved cruciform passage graves in Europe. Its passage is twenty meters long and is covered by a 12.2 meter high earth mound. The mound istelf is 58 meters in diameter and covers an area of 2400 square meters. Read More »

Also known as The Giants Table, Lanyon Quoit is a Neolithic burial mound dating back to 2500BC. The chambered tomb is made up of three upright granite blocks and a capstone, the covering mound has long since weathered away. Read More »

Men-an-Tol, consist of a holed stone (with the largest hole of any British holed stone) between two upright stones, with other fallen stones nearby. The holed stone is considered to be the remains of an entrance to a chambered tomb. The whole structure having been covered with a mound of earth. As with many of these cromlechs it is difficult to image a mound covering them at any time. Read More »

This impressive standing stone and its smaller recumbent companion, are believed to be all that is left of a chambered long barrow from the Neolithic period, the remaining stones once being part of the tomb entrance.   Read More »

If we were making a list of the top 100 ancient sites in Britain and Ireland (as is the current vogue) Newgrange would undoubtedly be in the hallowed top 10. Its great age, size, astronomical features and location in the beautiful Boyne Valley, mark it as one of the most important ‘mystery' sites in Europe. Read More »

This is one of the most recognisable chambered cairns in Wales, with a huge capstone supported by the points of 3 upright stones. Read More »

The Poulnabrone Dolmen is a portal tomb dating back to Neolithic times (2500BC). The thin capstone is about 12’ in length and is supported 6’ from the ground by two portal stones. Read More »

Within a small woodland adjacent to the ancient Ridgeway path, where it crosses the parish of East Hendred, stands Scutchamer Knob. It is a raised earth mound and legend has it, that it is the burial mound of the Saxon king Cwichelm. Read More »

Sheebeg Cairn (Sí Beag) is traditionally considered to be the burial site of Gráinne, (daughter of Cormac mac Airt, High King of Ireland ) and the giant hero of Irish legend, Fionn Mac Cumhaill (or Finn McCool), leader of the Fianna warriors of Ben Bulben. Read More »

The six hills which occupy prominence in the town are tumuli or Round Barrows dating from the Bronze Age. According to legend the hills are spade fulls of earth taken from Whomerly wood and thrown at the town by a giant (or the Devil) intent on destruction. His last shot went well off mark and knocked the steeple off Gravely Church two miles away. Read More »

Spinsters Rock is a burial cairn dating to the early Bronze Age. The structure was re-erected in the 1862 after collapsing earlier in the year.

According to folklore the rocks where erected by a group of three spinsters who where on a journey to deliver some wool. Obviously these three women where seen as giants having the strength to carry such a heavy burden. Read More »

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.

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 »

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 »

West Kennet Long Barrow is one of the many prehistoric monuments that are part of the Avebury complex of Neolithic sites. It is one of the most impressive and well-preserved burial chambers in Britain, as well as being one of the most visited. Read More »

[Please note the views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Mysterious Britain team]

To the average tourist the West Kennet Long Barrow is another ancient monument to look over and wonder at the way in which it was constructed, with numerous slabs of sarsen stone laid one upon another. Read More »

Trevethy Quoit, also known as King Arthur's Quoit, is one of the more impressive burial chambers in Cornwall. Standing at over 15 feet 4.6 Metres. This cromlech dates from the Bronze Age period. The capstone is pierced by a hole, the purpose of which is unknown. Read More »

Five circular thatched houses, within the village are supposed to have been designed to ensure that the Devil cannot hide in any corners. Each house is topped with a cross, a further deterrent to the Devil. In actuality they were built by the Reverend Jeremiah Trist for his daughters. The houses are now in private ownership. Read More »

Wayland's Smithy is one of the most impressive and atmospheric Neolithic burial chambers in Britain. Read More »

In the 1876 book entitled ‘History of the Fylde of Lancashire’ by John Porter, reference is made to an extensive barrow or cairn near Weeton Lane Heads which was accidentally opened. This burial chamber had the reputation of being haunted by a boggart or hairy ghost. Read More »