Lligwy Burial Chamber, Anglesey

After stupidly missing Lligwy burial chamber on Anglesey yesterday we nipped back to find it this morning, and there it was, in all of its massive stone glory. We were treated to a lovely scent of muck spreading as we arrived as a tractor ploughed slurry into the fields and a flock of seagulls descended on what was thrown up. A small layby lies on one side of the road, big enough for one car, and the burial chamber is close on the other, through a gate into the field.

The sign tells you that the chamber was constructed toward the end of the Neolithic period, between 2500 and 2000 B.C., and was probably covered by a mound originally. A 1908-09 excavation revealed the remains of up to thirty people of both sexes and all ages, and late Neolithic pottery.

It was a beautiful crisp morning when we got to the burial chamber. Clear skies and cold March sunshine.

The chamber is at the edge of a rather lovely field of sheep. It's surrounded by metal fencing, but since the gate was open it looks like the chamber has been providing a nice shelter for sheep for quiet some time. I don't envy the farmer who finds their sheep having a difficult lambing inside...

This monument is in the care of the Secretary of State for Wales. You don't want to annoy the Secretary of State for Wales. To be honest, I don't know if we even have a Secretary of State for Wales anymore, and judging by the lichen I think the sign might be almost as old as the monument.

The capstone is absolutely massive, and it's rather staggering to think of how the people of the time managed to manoeuvre it onto the top of the supporting stones.

Inside the chamber is cramped and sheepy. That probably doesn't matter so much if you're dead.

On this side the capstone doesn't even rest on the stones beneath. It's quite something to crouch down underneath something with so much mass and see it's not even supported all around. I love the little undisturbed wall there, too.

You can see why the sheep love to shelter in here. It's dry and cosy.

I think the sign said this fallen stone in the foreground was a standing stone originally.

Tired of seeing it from different angles yet? It must have been impressive when it was covered in a mound, but I do love to see the stone.

A slightly more modern information board. In the good old days people didn't need pictures and colour and dramatic reconstructions. They just needed raised metal letters on an Armed-Services-green plaque.

I don't know if these stones just outside the enclosure were anything, but here they were...

Another angle, the side where the capstone rests on nothing.

Yet another angle? And some daffodils in the foreground that aren't in blossom.

A final look before we go...

And here's the muck-spreading tractor. What a glorious smell.