Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Tŷ Mawr standing stone, Holyhead
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2501 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Holyhead Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH2539480951 Site Type (preferred type first) : BRONZE AGE STANDING STONE Status : Scheduled Monument , Cared for by the State
Summary : A standing stone.
Description : Standing stone 8 3/4ft high, 4ft wide and 1 1/4ft thick. (RCAHMW, 1937)
The stone is an attractive piece of schist with swirling bedding planes, and an almost anthropomorphic shape. It stands c.2.5m high, and is a maximum of 1.7m wide and 0.4m thick. It is located on a local high point, at an altitude of 12m OD, but not on the highest point in the area, in a gently undulating, rather than a craggy, field. The views are good all round, but especially good of Holyhead Mountain. The stone stands in a slight hollow caused by livestock eroding the ground around it, and this has exposed the packing stones around the base of the monolith. No earthworks were noticed around the stone, despite the grass in this field being particularly short.
A small square marks the stone on the 1889 map, but it is not labelled. On the 1926 map it is marked as a maen hir. <5> (Davidson et al, 2004)
A tall, very thin and quite narrow stone of unusual 'wavy' rock that gives it a rather anthropomorphic appearance. Its 'best' face points approximately to the NW - to Holyhead Mountain, its SE face approximately towards Trefignath. Probably ploughed all round in past but buried remains may still survive. Presents a good view in front of Holyhead Mountain when approached from the south. (Smith, 2003)
This site is now in the middle of the Parc Cybi business park and is discussed in relation to features found in that development in Kenney et al 2020. The area around the stone was not investigated during the excavations in advance of the development and has been preserved undisturbed with public access to the stone. (Kenney et al, 2020).
