The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
Newgrange is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3200 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. It is aligned on the winter solstice sunrise. Newgrange is the main monument in the Brú na Bóinne complex, a World Heritage Site that also includes the passage tombs of Knowth and Dowth, as well as other henges, burial mounds and standing stones.
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches would have served defensive purposes poorly, henges are not considered to have been defensive constructions. The three henge types are as follows, with the figure in brackets being the approximate diameter of the central flat area:
- Henge. The word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic period, typically consisting of a roughly circular or oval-shaped bank with an internal ditch surrounding a central flat area of more than 20 m (66 ft) in diameter. There is typically little if any evidence of occupation in a henge, although they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles, timber circles and coves. Henge monument is sometimes used as a synonym for henge. Henges sometimes, but by no means always, featured stone or timber circles, and circle henge is sometimes used to describe these structures. The three largest stone circles in Britain are each within a henge. Examples of henges without significant internal monuments are the three henges of Thornborough Henges. Although having given its name to the word henge, Stonehenge is atypical in that the ditch is outside the main earthwork bank.
- Hengiform monument. Like an ordinary henge, except the central flat area is between 5 and 20 m (16–66 ft) in diameter, they comprise a modest earthwork with a fairly wide outer bank. The terms Mini henge or Dorchester henge are sometimes used as synonyms for hengiform monument. An example is the Neolithic site at Wormy Hillock Henge.
- Henge enclosure. A Neolithic ring earthwork with the ditch inside the bank, with the central flat area having abundant evidence of occupation and usually being more than 300 m (980 ft) in diameter. Some true henges are as large as this, but lack evidence of domestic occupation. Super henge is sometimes used as a synonym for a henge enclosure. However, sometimes Super henge is used to indicate size alone rather than use, e.g. "Marden henge ... is the least understood of the four British 'superhenges' ".
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.
Bryn Celli DduWelsh pronunciation: [brʌn keːɬi ðɨː] is a prehistoric site on the Welsh island of Anglesey located near Llanddaniel Fab. Its name means 'the mound in the dark grove'. It was archaeologically excavated between 1928 and 1929. Visitors can get inside the mound through a stone passage to the burial chamber, and it is the centrepiece of a major Neolithic Scheduled Monument in the care of Cadw. The presence of a mysterious pillar within the burial chamber, the reproduction of the 'Pattern Stone', carved with sinuous serpentine designs, and the fact that the site was once a henge with a stone circle, and may have been used to plot the date of the summer solstice have all attracted much interest.
The Castle of Dinerth is a Welsh castle located near Aberarth, Ceredigion, west Wales that was completed c. AD 1110. It is also known as Hero Castle, presumably from the Norse hiro.
Cissbury Ring is an 84.2-hectare (208-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort.
The Bull Ring is a Class II henge that was built in the late Neolithic period near Dove Holes in Derbyshire, England.
Llandygái is a small village and community on the A5 road between Bangor and Tal-y-bont in Gwynedd, Wales. It affords a view of the nearby Carneddau mountain range. The population of the community taken at the 2011 Census was 2,487. Llandygái community includes nearby Tregarth and Mynydd Llandygái and also the pass of Nant Ffrancon.
The Isle of Anglesey is a county off the north-west coast of Wales. It is named after the island of Anglesey, which makes up 94% of its area, but also includes Holy Island and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.
Prehistoric Orkney refers only to the prehistory of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that begins with human occupation. Although some records referring to Orkney survive that were written during the Roman invasions of Scotland, “prehistory” in northern Scotland is defined as lasting until the start of Scotland's Early Historic Period.
Bryngwyn is a village in Monmouthshire, Wales. It may also refer to:
Caer Lêb is a Roman and mediaeval site on the Welsh island of Anglesey, west of Brynsiencyn. Its name means "Leaven Castle". It is a low-lying site near the Afon Braint with a double row of pentangular banks and marshy ditches. The original entrance was on the east, other gaps are modern and caused by animals. Based on the excavation of a similar site elsewhere on Anglesey, it may date from the 2nd century BCE.
The Roman conquest of Anglesey refers to two separate invasions of Anglesey in North West Wales that occurred during the early decades of the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD. The first invasion of North Wales began after the Romans had subjugated much of southern Britain. It was led by the Provincial governor of Britannia, Suetonius Paulinus, who led a successful assault on the island in AD 60–61, but had to withdraw because of the Boudican revolt. In AD 77, Gnaeus Julius Agricola's thorough subjugation of the island left it under Roman rule until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century AD.
Bryn Cader Faner is a Bronze Age round cairn which lies to the east of the small hamlet of Talsarnau in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd in Wales. The diameter is 8.7 metres (29 ft) and there are 18 thin jagged pillars which jut upwards from the low cairn. It is thought to date back to the late third millennium BC. The site was disturbed by 19th-century treasure hunters, who left a hole in the centre, indicating the position of a cist or a grave. Originally there may have been about 30 pillars, each some 2 metres (7 ft) long. However, before the Second World War, the British Army used the site for gunnery practice. The Army damaged many of the stones on the east side.
Llanfechell is a village in Anglesey, Wales. It is the largest of several small villages and dispersed settlements that make up Mechell Community Council area. It is 11 miles (18 km) east of Holyhead, and 5.6 miles (9 km) west of Amlwch, in the north of the island.
The Bryn Gwyn Stones or Bryn Gwyn Standing Stones are neolithic stones in Brynsiencyn on Anglesey.
Parciau hill fort is a hill fort on the Welsh island of Anglesey. It stands on the summit of Bryn Ddiôl, whose name means "trackless hill".
The Menai Strait fish weirs are historically important fishing traps used in the fast-flowing tidal waters of the Menai Strait, which separates Anglesey from the rest of North Wales. The strait was particularly well suited to utilising fish weirs. The tidal waters pull huge volumes of water past the coastline with every tide, and the weirs and traps enabled fish to be concentrated into small holding areas from which they can be readily caught. Such methods are thought to have been used from earliest times, but the submerged and standing remains along both the Anglesey and Gwynedd coasts are from medieval and post-medieval periods, and in some cases were still in use into the 20th century.
