Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey

Bryn Celli Ddu is a lovely Neolithic burial chamber under a mound on Anglesey, not far from Llanfair PG. I thought I'd been here before, but it was actually Barclodiad y Gawres I'd visited, which is only open on weekends and bank holidays. Bryn Celli Ddu is a walk of about half a mile from the road, where there is a layby (you can find it on Google Maps by entering 53.2077° N, 4.2355° W into the search box) but the entire route is fenced and gravelled, with a ramp down from the road, so is ostensibly wheelchair accessible (not being a wheelchair user I can't be sure. It's at least pushchair accessible.) The one huge drawback is that to access the enclosure around the burial chamber you have to go through a kissing gate, which would be impossible to get a wheelchair and probably most pushchairs through. You could see the mound from the gate, but I daresay it would be disappointing.

It sounds as if this place was once a henge as well as a tomb, and that the mound (which was reinstated after excavation) has been bigger in the past. A carved stone just outside the mound was removed and a replica has been put in its place. The mound and chamber are surrounded by a ring ditch and kerbstones. Apparently some of the stones from the henge were later used to create the chamber. The passage into the mound is aligned with the summer solstice, with a gap in the stones opposite the passage too (although it sounds like this gap wasn't originally open to the air). It's worth reading the Wikipedia page linked to above.

The view over the fields as you walk along the fenced walkway to the burial chamber.

And here's the mound itself, with the ditch in the foreground and the replica pattern stone to the left. The scar in the hill is where it is cut away to the stones beneath, not how it would have been originally.

One of the information boards at the site. These boards are rather wishy-washy and don't tell you much.

The ditch and stones around it. I don't know if the large stone would have been been upright originally, or if it's one of the henge stones that were deliberately felled.

The replica pattern stone (I didn't notice the patterns) and a glimpse into the back of the burial chamber.

I'm wondering of the patterns have worn off this replica stone.

Coming round to the front of the burial chamber, where the stones get a bit more impressive.

The entrance itself, with a well-worn path. It's rather narrow.

Looking up the passage into the chamber. This is supposed to be one of the finest passage tombs in Wales.

People have left offerings of shells and stones on this little shelf in the rock in the main chamber.

A single pillar stands inside, which seems to be marked with horizontal parallel lines. At the top you can see a modern beam.

Looking back down the passage to the outside.

Looking through the exposed opening in the back wall to outside and the realm of the living.

Tiny stalactites are forming on the underneath of the massive capstone.

More offerings have been left in the passage to outside - a shell, some beach-worn glass, a five pence piece and tuppence.

Another view of the right front of the chamber and the farmland beyond.

And another view of the left front side.

Another rather unhelpful information board.

Here you can see round the side to the replica pattern stone.

Pretty much all of the mound in one shot.

And a quick shot of the gravel path as we walk back to the car...