Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Bryn yr Hen Bobl Chambered Tomb, Llanedwen
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2172 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Llanddaniel Fab Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH51886900 Site Type (preferred type first) : NEOLITHIC CHAMBERED TOMB Status : Scheduled Monument
Description : Bryn yr Hen Bobl, translated as hill of the old people. A round barrow 130ft in diameter with a rectangular chamber 17' by 3' 6" by 5'6" high set centrally in the barrow and opening on to the east; the walls if the barrow curve in on the east to the chamber defining a large forecourt. The site has been dug into at various times, but the full excavation was carried out over 6 seasons from 1929-1935. On the south side of the barrow a bank or terrace 40' wide and at present 2-3' high extends 325' due south; it is faced with revetment walls. Full excavation report, plans, illustrations and photographs included. <1>
Hemp argued the existence of a side chamber originally on the south side of the main chamber. <2>
Finds include sherds of Neolithic pottery, mostly from just outside the enclosing wall of the cairn on the south west, and a middle Bronze Age cinerary urn at the end of the terrace. Also, three polished stone axes, an adze, graiglwyd axe, flint scrapers and numerous flint flakes, a hone 14" long, a bone pin and an Iron Age type of glass bead. Charcoal was found in great quantities on the forecourt. Human remains found in the chamber amounted to about a score of individuals. For the most part they had been removed and replaced and were in a fragmentary condition. It is likely that some belong to later interments known to have been made near the surface of the cairn. (RCAHMW, 1937)
Bryn yr Hen Bobl is a large kidney-shaped cairn containing a rectangular chamber. The cairn is bounded by two internal stone walls which become confusingly elaborate in the area of the forecourt. Most of the forecourt had been completely blocked by sloping stones set in conspicuously dirty earth. It is probable that the chamber entrance too was originally blocked as there was evidence to suggest that the notched stone, which is placed between portals, once stood at 6ft. If this is true the functional entrance may well have stood over the southern horn, as Hemp suggested, and into the chamber through the side stone which had been cut back at floor-level to form a small doorway. Hemp also postulated a side chamber at this point, but the present writer would not consider its presence likely, or necessary. The 300ft long 'terrace' bonded into the southern side of the cairn is unique. This terrace is a solid structure with walls 2ft high and a compact stone filling. Whatever its significance it is undeniable that the cairn builders intended it to be an integral part of the monument and that it long retained a certain importance since a cinery urn burial was found at the end.
The large amount of pottery recovered from Bryn yr Hen Bobl has given it an added importance, but little of it came from the cairn or the chamber; the majority of sherds came from under the terrace leading to the suggestion that the monument overlay a settlement site. <4>
The eastern end of the mound has been removed to expose the chamber which has been restored and is in good condition. <5>
Bryn yr Hen Bobl. The finds beneath the terrace clearly relate to a settlement on the site abandoned before the tomb was built. The lapse of time is unknown but may not have been long since the scraps of pottery from the tomb were said to be similar to those beneath it. The site may be identified as a settlement, the theory proposed by Professor Piggott in 'Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles', 1954, p180, from the charcoal, dark earth, broken pottery, animal bones and stone-working waste, though no structures were exposed in 1935. <6>
Scheduled area extended. <8>
As previously described. A huge mound situated in a rather non-prominent position on a gentle slope. Presently has restricted views because of mature surrounding woodland but without this could have extensive views to the east and lies within a bit of natural amphitheatre. Could it be that the most of the 'terrace' to the south is actually a medieval or later lynchet and not the same as the terrace found under the mound itself? (Smith, 2003)
An account of Cambrian Archaeological Association excursion to the site in August 1937 with description of the state of the monument, excavation and finds. (Lloyd Jones 1937).
Bryn yr Hen Bobl (SAM An 004) in a large neolithic chambered cairn, which lies in an area of pasture and parkland on the west side of Plas Newydd estate on Anglesey. The site was most recently excavated between 1929 and 1935 (Hemp 1935) A number of important new discoveries have been made at the site during the first phase of a detailed re-evaluation of the monument and its environs.
The site is a large oval cairn, c 40m long, 30m wide and nearly 5m high. On the south side of the cairn is the unique 'terrace', a c 90m long drystone structure which was bonded to to the cairn walling. The earlier excavations produced an assemblage of early and middle neolithic material culture. Contextual information about this information was not recorded, or has not survived, making it difficult to understand the sequence at Bryn yr Hen Bobl prroperly (Lynch 1969, 161-2; Gresham 1985, 225-27).
A grid of 1m by 0.5m test pits were dug in the pasture around the monument in 1990 (Edmonds and Thomas 1991, 6-10). Air photographs taken by the Royal Commission in Janary 1999 (T Driver pers comm) showed important new elements to the site, includng a second bank which appears to run parallel to the terrace. During the 1999 season, in order to focus the research design for subsequent work, a geophysical survey of the mound and parkland was carried out. The results from the test pits dug in 1990 will be used to augment the geophysical survey (Hamilton et al forthcoming).
Preliminary analysis of the geophysical results suggests a number of important new features at the site. The chambered cairn appears to be surrounded by a ditch and to have a large quarry pit on its western side. The second bank shown on the Royal Comission air photos was revealed as a curving strucuture running from the south-east side of the cairn to the end of the terrace, forming a large D-shaped enclosure. This second bank appeared to have a ditch on its inner edge.
To the north-west of the cairn was a wedge-shaped feature, defined by a continuous ditch, and possibly containing traces of a mound. West of the terrace was a small, previously unrecorded, cairn surrounded by a ditch. To the south-west were four narrow curving ditches which may be concentric around the slope. There are also four long linear features which run across the area surveyed at varying angles.
It is now clear that Bryn yr Hen Bobl is both a more complex monument than was originally suspected and that it is part of an important landscape of other features. The parkland at Plas Newydd appears to have preserved structures of a number of different dates. It is hoped taht work during the summer of 2000 will form part of a longer programme of survey and evaluation with the aim of understanding both the chronology and form of the complex. (Hamilton, Leivers, Roberts & Peterson, 1999)
An article relating to the recent find of a Mesolithic flint knapping floor at Lligwy Bay, Anglesey and further discussion of Mesolithic sites across Anglesey. In terms of Anglesey several sites have been identified in the early 20th Century - Lligwy pit-chambered tomb, Bryn yr Hen Bobl cairn and Bryn Llwyd at Newborough. Trwyn Du a bronze Age site actually sits on an earlier Mesolithic Site and was studied in the 1970s. (White 2020)
Events : 42272 : Chambered Cairn Known As Bryn Yr Hen Bobl Near Plas Newydd, Anglesey (year : 1929) 41562 : New Evidence from Bryn Yr Hen Bobl (year : 1999) 40526 : Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monument Survey: West Gwynedd/Anglesey (year : 2003) 42277 : Bryn Yr Hen Bobl, Llanedwen, Anglesey: an Interim Statement (year : 2000) 40527 : Pan-wales Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Sites Survey: Trial Data Synthesis (year : 2005)
