Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Ancient Sites

Ancient Sites / Standing Stones

Gors-Fawr Stone Circle

The circle consists of 16 standing stones with a diameter of 22.3 metres, 72 feet. Towards the Northeast of the circle are two outlying standing stones. It is not clear whether they are related to the circle and may date from an earlier or later timescale.

Directions: Off a minor road from the A478, signposted

Ancient Sites / Dragons / Legends / Merlin

Dinas Emrys

The legendary stronghold of Vortigern, and the place where the young prophet Merlin revealed the fighting dragons.  In legend there are two characters associated with the same story with slight variations. One is Vortigern, the Dark Age ruler who let the Saxons into the country, and was responsible in part for their later invasions.

Ancient Sites / King Arthur / Legends / Roman

Caerleon Amphitheatre

This is the best example of a Roman amphitheatre in Britain. Until 1926 when serious excavations were undertaken at the site, it was considered to be a circular earthwork and linked to the legend of King Arthur being known as his Round Table.

Ancient Sites / Featured Sites / Legends

Dunadd

The ancient king seat of Dunadd – capital of the kingdom of Dalraidia (Dal Riata) – rises out of the barren flatness of Crinan Moss, the raised bog floodplain of the meandering River Add. This rocky outcrop was the power base of the Scotti tribe, who invaded from Ireland around the 5th century AD.

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Fairies / Featured Sites / Folklore / Scottish Fairies

Inchmahome Priory

Situated on an island in the middle of Lake Menteith, the only ‘Lake’ in Scotland, Inchmahome Priory is a ruined Augustine (The Black Cannons) priory founded in 1238 by Walter Comyn, who was the Earl of Menteith. The Earl is likely to have founded the monastery for the good of his soul, and to show of his status as an important landowner.

Ancient Sites / Burial Mounds / Featured Sites

Balnuaran of Clava

The Clava Cairns – or more correctly Balnuaran 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.

Ancient Sites / Early Christianity / Featured Sites

Crossraguel Abbey

The ruins of this relatively little known abbey are remarkably intact, and stand in a part of Ayrshire steeped in history. As well as being historically interesting there are many enigmas associated with the abbey, which could well be worth further research. There may have been a Pictish site here, and some people suggest that the abbey may have a Templar connection.

Ancient Sites / Featured Sites / Giants / Legends / Standing Stones / Stone Circles

Machrie Moor Stone Circles

The Isle of Arran, off the West Coast of Scotland, has many stone circles and standing stones dating from the Neolithic period and the early Bronze Age. The finest collection of circles can be found on Machrie Moor, on the West of the island. The whole moorland is littered with the remains of early man, from hut circles to chambered cairns and solitary standing stones.