Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber, Llanddaniel Fab
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 2694 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Llanddaniel Fab Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH5075970184 Site Type (preferred type first) : NEOLITHIC CHAMBERED TOMB Status : Scheduled Monument , Cared for by the State
Summary : Bryn Celli Ddu is a well known and well visited monument comprising two phases of use. The first phase is a henge and includes a ditch, originally with an outer bank, a ring of stones around the inside and possible a central feature. The second phase, which almost entirely obliterates the first, is a burial chamber of classic passage grave type comprising a high-roofed polygonal chamber and a lower entrance passage, containing a rounded stone pillar. A pit and a decorated stone found beside it are also thought to belong to this later phase. The entire monument was originally covered by an earth and stone mound which, after excavation by W.J.Hemp between 1927-31, was restored only around the chamber and passage.
It has been suggested that the obliteration of the first phase by the passage grave represents the deliberate 're-dedication' of the site maybe as a result of antagonism between two different religious systems.
Description : Chambered tomb near Bryn Celli Ddu, surrounded by four concentric circles of stones. Incised pattern-stone set in floor of purple clay. (RCAHMW, 1937) <2> <4>
Bryn Celli Ddu. A chambered round cairn. <3>
Published survey revised at 50767018. <5>
Bryn Celli Ddu may be linked with the Passage Graves of Brittany although the exact relationship is not clear. It must, however, be late in any series since it overlies an apparent henge monument... possibly A. T. Kinsai's Class II (Beaker period). <6>
'Passage grave' excavated in 1929 and restored. Detailed description in Lynch etc. Too well known to require further description. Set on local summit with good views all around. (Smith, 2003)
The Bryn Celli Ddu Cromlech. — This is on a farm called Bryn Celli Ddu, in the parish of Llanddaniel, and is marked on the Ordnance Map as Yr Oguf (the Cave). It is about H mile from Gaerwen Station. The uprights consist of six rude slabs. This cromlech is also most valuable through the light which it sheds on the formation of the galleries leading to the chambers of these mounds. Here the passage leading to the chambers underneath is about 18 ft. long, 3 ft. high, and 2} ft. in breadth. It is formed of four slabs on one side and five on the other, the interstices being filled with dry masonry, while the top is covered with rude slabs, which form the roof. Here we evidently have something very different from the ordinary simple cromlech. and a development not unlike in principle to the alignments of Brittany.
In the Arch. Camb. for 1847, p. 3, there is a very full account of the Bryn Celli Ddu cromlech, Anglesey. In this article the most gratifying statement is recorded that Mr. Charles Evans of Henblas had given orders for surrounding it with a suitable fence, so that its further decay might be retarded as much as possible. (Anwyl, 1908).
Account of the demolition of the western carnedd, find of a “wedge of gold”, and discovery of bones in the main chamber prior to Skinner's time. “The height of the chamber is nine feet, its form nearly triangular some of the sides being about three yards long and four or five feet high. The intermediate space up to the roof is filled with stones placed one above the other in the manner they build walls but without any kind of cement. Two prodigious flat stones covered the whole one about three yards in length and two in breadth the other not quite so large. These are of a gritty substance not like any stone found in the vicinity. The pillar still lying in the cavern is a kind of freestone and seems to have been rounded by the tool.” (Skinner, 1802) (Sketch on p. 24).
Description of Bryn Celli Ddu as it appeared in 1847 (Author Unknown, 1847).
An account of Cambrian Archaeological Association excursion to this site in August 1937 with some description of the state of the monument in 1923 when handed over to the Ministry of Works and subsequent renovation. (Lloyd Jones 1937).
A descriptive account, with interpretation, of the site as seen when visited by Cambrian Archaeological Association in August 1860 (Arch Cam, 1860).
Carved stone from the centre of Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey shows in its patterned decoration Irish and Armorican influences (Fox, 1933).
Bryn Celli Ddu (Gresham, 1985).
the careful excavations by Mr. W. J. Hemp, in 1925-9, revealed a number of interesting structural features, together with carved stones which until recently were almost the only ones known in England and Wales which are comparable with the elaborate examples associated with the celebrated Boyne group of passage graves in central Ireland. (Savory, 1952).
