Friday 11th May – Llygwy, Moelfre, Anglesey

With a big improvement in the weather we were able to investigate the area. We had chosen the Plas Lligwy site because of its location in the middle of a number of archaeological sites. The first was only a hundred metres from the junction of the farm track and the road. Here is the Neolithic Lligwy Burial Chamber, built before 3,000 BC it was found to contain the bones of some 30 men, women and children when it was excavated in 1908-9. The most impressive feature is the capstone weighing at least 25 tonnes and showing marks that are thought to be Neolithic tool marks made when the stone was quarried.

A walk of a hundred metres in the opposite direction from the farm track took us to a kissing gate for the path to the next two sites. The ruined 12^th century chapel of ease came first followed by the walled Romano-British settlement of Din Lligwy. Din Lligwy is one of a number of such settlements in the valley, some of which are Iron Age and it may well be that Din Lligwy's history also goes back to that time. The ruins are in very good condition and the walls, two round houses and number of rectangular buildings can be seen very clearly. The rectangular buildings were either farm buildings or workshops, one showed evidence of five hearths, charcoal and slag.

Returning to the van for lunch we plotted a walk for the afternoon. This took us down to the coast on the edge of Moelfre and then along the coastal path past Lligwy Bay to Dulas Bay. It was a lovely walk with great views and the sunshine was most welcome although on the coast the wind was very and cold. We had met the campsite owner at lunchtime and I asked permission to take a look at some more hut circles shown on the OS map. On the way back I headed off the farm track to a copse just a few metres away. Here there was clear evidence of at least three more hut circles no more than a couple of hundred of metres from the Din Ligwy settlement. Whether these were of the same date, I do not know but if they were, they must have been associated with that settlement. The farmer also told me of another series of hut circles in the woods on the other side of his farm.

Photos: The Lligwy Burial Chamber with its huge capstone; The Din Lligwy settlement showing a round house, a rectangular building and the enclosure wall; The coast near Moelfre – the monument is a memorial to over 400 people who lost their lives in 1859 when the Royal Charter steam clipper travelling from Australia was driven onto the rocks in hurricane-force winds. The fact that the ship was within 30 yards of the shore shows how bad the conditions must have been.