Archaeology & Folklore of the "Finest Cromlech in Wales" - Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire

Here we are at Pentrefan. Regarded by many as the finest surviving cromlech in the country, it has become iconic of the Neolithic period in Wales. Situated in North Pembrokeshire, the site has spectacular views of the Carningley Mountain, the central peak of which lies due west, just over two miles away. On a clear day you can also see across the surrounding hills and valleys of the Priseli, down to Newport Bay and the Irish Sea. Long regarded as a sacred place, the structure continues to inspire awe in its visitors, attracting regular visits from tourists and locals alike. You don't simply like Pentrefan, you're in love with Pentrefan. Welcome back to the channel, Coral Jacks, where we're continuing our tour around Pembrokeshire's ancient megaliths and delving into the folklore and legends surrounding them. If you're a new viewer, please find a playlist of all the sites we've visited so far. Links will be at the end of the video and in the description. Pentrefan does not disappoint. Its impressive size and striking silhouette have established it as one of the most popular of its kind, and its popularity has led to a vast number of stories, accounts and interpretations going back hundreds if not thousands of years. This cromlech, like others locally, is estimated to have been constructed around 6,000 years ago and is commonly referred to as a burial chamber or portal tomb, but the evidence that it was ever covered over and used for burial is somewhat lacking. Excavations took place in 1936 and 1958, followed by further research in 1972 that suggests the site was developed over three main phases. The first phase consisting of a single standing stone, a large earth-fast boulder and a fire pit. The second phase being the raising of the capstone to create the portal dolmen we see today, along with creating some kind of stone platform around the monument. And the third stage is thought to be the conversion of the portal dolmen into a long cairn, expanding the existing platform to create a long mound and placing two additional standing stones at the entrance of the forecourt. The evidence for these phases comes from the discovery of rows of individual pits which lay under and around the mound and were therefore predated. Curbstones for the mound were also found, but not in a complete sequence, and they aligned more to the pits than the stone chamber. Although scant, these finds are consistent with other sites where a fire pit and a single stone or small cluster appear to predate the later cairns. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples at nearby Carrig Coyton Arthur gave dates ranging from 3900 BC to 2900 BC, the latter being taken from material blocking the forecourt, suggesting the original use of the monument ceased around this time. These excavations revealed slight traces of a trapezoidal cairn of boulders about 40 meters long by 8 meters wide at the southern end, surrounded by a slight ditch and edged with evenly spaced stone holes along part of its south side, suggesting that originally it may have been bounded or framed with a ring of upright stones. While there is the suggestion in these reports that the monument may have been blocked up with dry stone walling near the end of its use, there's no evidence that the monument was ever actually covered by a mound. There have been smaller monuments in Wales and Ireland found fully covered with internal chambers made up of single or multiple dolmens, but Pentreophan differs both in scale and design. Another anomalous part of its classification as a burial chamber is that no human remains or items relating to funerary rituals have ever been found at this site, so with no burials or cremations and little to no evidence to suggest that the structure was covered, many now believe that this has always been a freestanding structure. William Francis Grimes, who carried out the excavations over 60 years ago, has also been widely criticised for the short, vague reports he compiled and the fact that he begins referring to the site as a burial chamber and tomb before any excavations had started, rendering a neutral and objective research approach impossible, an unfortunate but very common occurrence in past archaeology. On this channel, we usually try and walk along the fuzzy line between keeping an open mind and keeping to the historical facts, before diving off into the relative safety and frivolity of folklore and legend. So this is where we'd usually start discussing the Fair Folk and the Goddess Carydwen, and there's chapters down below if you want to skip ahead. But as this is such an important site that has been researched extensively over the years, we felt compelled to address the fact that Cadw and Coflin only present the theory that this was a covered burial mound, despite archaeological evidence and opinion now leaning the other way. In case you're unfamiliar, Cadw is the Welsh Government's Historic Environment Service and Coflin is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales, therefore they are somewhat of an authority on these matters. Cadw is also the top result if you google Pentrefan, and instead of a fair representation of both theories for the casual visitor, they describe the site as the skeletal remains of a tomb and the bare bones of a burial chamber that would have originally been covered by a northern mound. Below this description is a computer-generated video of the monument covered in a mound of stones, and while no one can say that the monument outright never looked like this, we can say that there's not enough evidence to claim that this is how it would have looked when first built. Even reports that were clearly biased towards the covered burial chamber theory concede that any mound would have been a later addition and could have been a low wall of only a couple of courses. In their defence, the video itself was created back in 2014 as part of a wider project aiming to raise more awareness about Welsh ancient sites, which is a great purpose that we also hope to be a part of. It's just a shame that it wasn't made a year later, as also in 2014 a number of major studies, national and international, were changing how we think about dolmens. The work produced that year by Cummings and Richards is a favourite of mine, so I am certainly biased in favour of their theory, which is summarised nicely here. This paper discusses a form of Neolithic monument found in Ireland and western Britain. It is argued that dolmens are a distinctive type of monument where the key characteristic is the use of enormous capstones which were lifted up and displayed on smaller upright supporters. These monuments were not built in order to create a chambered area, but were displays of important stones and astonishing feats of engineering. Considerable social prestige could be gained or lost through the construction of these monuments, and the paper details some examples which clearly ended in disaster. Finally, this paper suggests that dolmen construction originated in France, amongst communities who had a long tradition of building with big stones. The idea that these monuments were part of a Neolithic package introduced into Britain sometime around 4000 BC is also challenged. There aren't any references on the Caddo website for the information provided, but Covlin shows a similar description written by T Driver with two references, one of which is by the same name, length of expired, but presumably this description is an excerpt from his dissertation written in 1993. The second reference, from 1992, turned out to be a great read, written by Christopher Thompson Barker and available on the University of Glasgow's website. Barker takes a careful and unbiased look at the studies that have gone before him, and pragmatically concludes that there is little evidence for Lynch's primary square cairn. Indeed, the existence of a long cairn is indicated merely by two surviving patches of stone on the west of the monument and the claimed peristyle. While the present writer sees no reason to doubt the authenticity of the long cairn, he would see it as a late addition to the monument, and would also comment on the extreme denadation that the cairn has apparently suffered. It has been a frequent suggestion that the majority of portal tombs were either freestanding or else set in minimal cairns. Could it be that the long cairn around the chamber at Pentreophan was a very low structure and hence very prone to stone robbing and agricultural damage? In summary, I personally believe that the burial chamber narrative is overly simplistic and detracts from the wonder of the place, underestimates its cultural importance and use, and discourages further research by claiming the mystery is solved. So now, a decade on, maybe this site deserves an updated assessment that provides a broader interpretation that is both more accurate and potentially more inspiring. Okay, so a little rant out of the way. Under the Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882, the Cromlech was one of three Welsh sites protected and was enclosed within a tall iron fence which was aimed at preventing further abuse or injury. Thankfully the fence these days is simple and low, so the view is unobscured, and I'm not sure if the high fence was particularly effective anyway. The site was popular among early travellers and antiquarians which resulted in it quickly becoming an iconic image of Wales, the earliest known depiction being from the Welsh antiquarian and author George Owen. In 1602, in his book The Description of Pembrokeshire, he says The stone called Minor Cromlech, upon Pentrejevan land, is a huge and massive stone, mounted on high and set on the top of three other high stones, pitched, standing upright in the ground. The stones where on this laid are so high that a man on horseback may well ride under it without stoping. He also drew an image of the site which is the earliest known image we could find, and this description was clearly a hit as several other old books refer to the Cromlech as being able to fit two men on horseback under the tall structure, and we found a few other images featuring some smartly dressed gentlemen on horseback riding under the Cromlech. Pentrejevan has gone by many names but it's also known as the womb of Caridwen. Caridwen is the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation and inspiration, the goddess famous for her magical cauldron and her potion Arwen, the source of all inspiration and knowledge. Evans Wentz, an Edwardian collector of Celtic beliefs and author of a slightly controversial version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, wrote another book named The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. In here there's an interesting passage about Pentrejevan. He says the little valley on whose side stands the Pentrejevan Cromlech, the finest in Britain, is believed to have been a favourite place with the ancient druids and in the oak groves of teak and all wood that still exists there, tradition says that there was once a flourishing school for neophytes and that the Cromlech, instead of being a place of internments or sacrifices, was in those days completely enclosed, forming like other Cromlechs a darkened chamber in which novices, when initiated, were placed for a certain number of days, the interior of Pentrejevan being called the womb or court of Caridwen. Caridwen is known as a goddess of the other world in Welsh mythology, there she is a keeper of her magical cauldron of inspiration and knowledge. The stories of Caridwen that can be found within the ancient Welsh tales of the Mabinigion are linked heavily with Arthurian legend and there are theories among some scholars that Caridwen's cauldron is in fact the holy grail which King Arthur spends his life in search of. In the book of Talysin from the 14th century there's a cryptic poem named Predai Anwfn, the text recounts an expedition with King Arthur to the other world known as Annwn or Anwfn, there he seeks to steal the magical cauldron. Pentrejevan is traditionally known as one of the many portals to the other world, a place that features heavily within Welsh and Irish folklore and old Irish legends say that their ancient dolmens are also portals to this other world. In the Mabinigion there are tales that tell of Arthur sailing on his ship Predwen to Ireland in a continued search for the fabled cauldron. A world of delights and eternal youth, the other world can be visited by humans under certain conditions but the world they knew may not be the same on their return. Inhabited by godlike figures it may be thought as a predecessor to the Christian idea of an afterlife in paradise but with another translation meaning underworld and tales of mischievous creatures it can also be associated with hell. Around these portals it's said that you can sometimes see Atuluth Teag, the Fair Folk who were also called Plant Anwfn, the children of Anwfn. These Fair Folk were once thought to be as real as you or I and even today the belief in fairies is less extinct than some might think with many reporting that the Fair Folk can still be seen dancing around at Pentrefam. But for now we'll leave it there and explore Atuluth Teag deeper in a future video. Thanks for watching!