Below are some photos of Carn Meini, a place where the bluestones of Stonehenge are supposed to come from, the arguments rage to and fro but let it suffice that I am firmly convinced that the bluestones did come from this particular range of rocky outcrops. Reading Castleden and Darvill on the subject they are convinced to, but the evidence is both complicated and to some extent elusive as to the how.
One of the many pointers, is the fact that this would have been the travelling route from Ireland through to the western side of England, either by boat or land. Another is the prehistoric remains that litter the landscape around, still not fully referenced but N.P. Figgis's Prehistoric Preseli, gives a good idea of what still remains.
The third thing that is so striking is the landscape, the bareness of the mountains like a lunar landscape with the jagged outcrop of rocks making a striking statement. How would this statement have been interpreted by these early stone people is hard to say. Their cosmology belongs to them, but the colouring and quartz to be found in the rocks tells us that they regarded such things as important in their monument building.
Perhaps also that enigmatic 'horseshoe' shape of stones to be found below Carn Meini as seen here on TMA
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/509/bedd_arthur.html
with its echoing shape of the horseshoe at Stonehenge says that there is a link, but it is all ephemeral.
But the one thing I did come across whilst wandering round the slopes was the remains of a RAF plane that must have crashed into the ground in September 1944. Strangely some bits of the plane remain alongside a plaque commemorating the men killed, the wreckage remains probably due to the fact that this is a remote spot in the Pembrokeshire countryside, a sad reminder of something that happened 75 years ago.
One of the many pointers, is the fact that this would have been the travelling route from Ireland through to the western side of England, either by boat or land. Another is the prehistoric remains that litter the landscape around, still not fully referenced but N.P. Figgis's Prehistoric Preseli, gives a good idea of what still remains.
The third thing that is so striking is the landscape, the bareness of the mountains like a lunar landscape with the jagged outcrop of rocks making a striking statement. How would this statement have been interpreted by these early stone people is hard to say. Their cosmology belongs to them, but the colouring and quartz to be found in the rocks tells us that they regarded such things as important in their monument building.
Perhaps also that enigmatic 'horseshoe' shape of stones to be found below Carn Meini as seen here on TMA
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/509/bedd_arthur.html
with its echoing shape of the horseshoe at Stonehenge says that there is a link, but it is all ephemeral.
But the one thing I did come across whilst wandering round the slopes was the remains of a RAF plane that must have crashed into the ground in September 1944. Strangely some bits of the plane remain alongside a plaque commemorating the men killed, the wreckage remains probably due to the fact that this is a remote spot in the Pembrokeshire countryside, a sad reminder of something that happened 75 years ago.
Quartz; click on photos for larger images
The modern bluestone brought down by helicopter in the 1980s
Timothy Darvill - Stonehenge (The Biography of a Landscape)
Rodney Castleden - The Making of Stonehenge
Prehistoric Preseli - N.P.Figgis
Timothy Darvill - Stonehenge (The Biography of a Landscape)
Rodney Castleden - The Making of Stonehenge
Prehistoric Preseli - N.P.Figgis
The whole area - for me - has quite a distinct atmosphere. Perhaps it is the quartz - dunno - but it is a very positive feeling. Strange. I must take Keith up to the bluestones before we move. It's 10 years or so since I walked to them and Keith has never been.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Have changed internet providers and it turns out our line is caput, so have been largely without the internet for nearly 2 months now. I have a lot of catching up to do . . .
ReplyDeleteHi Jennie, wondered where you'd got to. My new internet connection has also been a nightmare this last week, along with Firefox which got inadvertently added on at the time, and now dictates my every move. Anyway with my second router now recognising the signal, I don't have to sit cursing BT Wireless anymore.
ReplyDeleteAs for Carn Meini, it does have an unmistakable 'presence' and there is a programme conducted by Darvill & Wainwright - SPACE - which is looking at the 'phenomena' of the area, the bird sound is pretty ;)