day 12

Day 12

“In the silent wings of freedom

Where you offer yourself midst the balancing of the Sun”

PENTRE IFAN

One of the most tiring days so far, but so fun. It was wet in the morning, so I got prepared for a light rain. My idea was to explore the north area of Pembrokeshire. I took the bus to Haverfordwest and from there another that would go around the coast via Fishguard, Dinas, Newport until Cardigan, but I left at Pentre Ifan junction. From there there is a well paved and indicated path. It is a 2 1/2 mile walk uphill in a very green road.

the junction to Pentre Ifan is easy to find: "you will find a pink cottage there" I was said

the way to Pentre Ifan is very well signed

Pentre Ifan is the bigger burial chamber in Wales, and although it is not complete anymore, it is still impressive. The Capstone is estimated to weight 40 tons. It is a Bronze age site and have at least 4.000 years. The site is known since the 18th century, and been excavated sometimes and rebuild in 1956, as it was close to fall down.

registers of visitors to Pentre Ifan

What we see today is the entrance of the burial chamber without the cover. There is no accordance about how the cover was built, because the entrance should lock the site, so it would be impossible to enter - and therefore add more people to the site- unless it were open at the sides, for about one meter or so. Most of the stones were stolen from there probably for build houses. This were not so uncommun until some decades ago, and it is possible to see several monuments that have missing pieces or marks left by people trying to take or broke them.

what we see today is just the entrance of what been a huge burial mound

Pentre Ifan and the surroundings were considered a sacred place. There is a passage on Pentre Ifan written in 1911 by W.Y. Evans Wentz, in his book "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries", in which he states that according to the tradition there were a druidic school around the oak forest around there, Ty Canol Wood, and the neophytes were placed inside Pentre Ifan, as a passage ritus.

It gets to around 3 meter high and originally it would get to 12m in lenght. The place of the site is a high area from which it is possible to see the sea from the nearby Newport. It is close to the highest points of the area, surrounded by Ty Canon Wood forests.

the view from there. it is possible to watch the sea from there

other burial mounds very close to Pentre Ifan

Ty Canol Wood, old druidic school?

Close to Pentre Ifan there’s another burial mounds, and down hill there is an ancient Iron age village, so I've been walking through the forest, but there's no much evidence of it to be found.

CARREG COETAN

Newport

Going back to Newport, time for a pause and the good atmosphere of the coffee on the pink house. In Newport there is another burial chamber called Carreg Coetan, which stands quite inside the city. It was easy to get there this time. The site may be changed a lot around the time, and the Quoit as we seen today stands in an area of about 15 x 8 meters. It is close to a little river and a former forest, if we judge the area surrounding.

Carreg Coetan

Some of the upright stones that supposedly should hold the structure, simply don’t hold the weight of the capstone and the two that actually does it look like they were cemented. I am not sure, but look like. Around the city, I tried to find places to connect with the chamber and I could found a castle and a church nearby. As those places more than once stand in older monuments, they must be taken on account when looking for Ley lines.

FISHGUARD

Fishguard

Fishguard port, where lots of pirates stories happened

Captain Bartholomew Roberts flag, depicts him toasting with death

Pyrate story: close to Fishguard is where it was born in 1682 one of the most famous of all pyrates, Captain Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts, but also named Black Beard and Capitain Kidd. He's been in the piracy around 1719 and 1722, when he died, and is estimated to have captured 470 vessels.
There's no much aknowledge on his life until 1718. At first he was only a second mate on the Princess, but after his vessel being taken by pirates commanded by a Welsh named Captain Davies, he joined the pirate crew. A few weeks later, part of the crew was umbushed and killed by portuguese villagers in Princes Isles, and for his sailor skills John Roberts became Captain Kidd. Captain Kidd been raiding the coast of Africa, Caribbean and been as far as Brasil. There he stayed for around 9 mounths and was about to leave, when he could capture a huge ammount of gold that was going to Portugal from Salvador bay.
He continue his bucaneering over the seas - and there's actually a lot of histories about him in the book A General History of the Pyrates, by Captain Charles Johnson (some atributte to Daniel Dafoe) published a few years after his death- until 1722 when he was shot by a grapeshot fighting in the sea. His death brought commotion to the pirate's world and it is considered the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

I went to Fishguard Information Bureau and tried to get some information about ancients sites, and for my surprise I could find lots of places in the guy’s map. I knew the Penbroke would be trouble, but it seems I have a lot more to explore. This also opens big possibilities for Leys alignments. Anyway I got a 5 page list of ancient monuments around Pembrokeshire and I think they can be useful.

THE GORSEDD CIRCLE

the Gorsedd Circle, erected in 1936

each stone has carved the name from where it came from

Another disturbing information I got was about a stone circle in the city which was made in 1936 for a convention. Each menhir was donated by a village that carved their name in it. If there is contemporary stone circle, I had to rethink about all those that I’ve seem I order to be sure if there is no other. Probably the one in Y Barri could be a XX century stone circle, as there is an inscription in it.

modern druidic meeting at Gorsedd Circle.

HARVERFORDWEST

On my way back to Pembroke I still had some time back in Haverfordwest, where I could explore the medieval area of the city, including an old monastery which was put down probably by Henry VIII. I love take pictures of these medieval old structures. Haverfordwest is important city in the area because it connects all the roads in Pembrokeshire. The city was established in the 11th century around the castle founded by a flemish merchant, and was important site of trading, although it's been depopulated around 1348 by the black plague.

Harverfordwest castle

some sites of Harverfordwest

The Harvestfordwest Augustinian Priory was founded around the year of 1200, and been dissolved in 1536. The building was sold and demolished, but in the 20th century, excavations started taking place there. The priory was laid alongside the river, outside the boundaries of the city.

After that day, I could only ask for some rest...