Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths
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Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths Site 70-1 Site Number 70 Eryrys ‘Four Poster’ N.G.R. SJ 2014 - 5881 Location Bryn Alyn County Denbighshire Discovered 2014 JDB ‘Eryrys Four Poster’, looking northeast (Significant stones far left) Plate 1 In 2007 W R Lloyd, trustees for Pot Hole Mountain (Bryn Alyn), gave permission for me to use a metal detector on their land. The intention was to cover areas that I felt might have been used during the Bronze Age and where bronze or even later metal items could have been mislaid or even deposited to collect at a later date. The first area that Chris and I detected over was the area I believed to be a Bronze Age circle (the Eryrys Circle, site 42). We covered the complete area inside and around the perimeter of the ‘Circle’ but it yielded nothing. When we first examined the area around the ‘Circle’ I noticed the 4 stones shown above (Plate 1). The spacing of the four stones somehow appeared too symmetrical to be natural but at the time I could not visualise or interpret how they might represent a structure of any description. Whilst we had the metal detector with us I detected inside the space created by the stones and also in between and around the perimeter, again nothing was detected. October 2014: In 2014 whilst researching information about Late Bronze Age Circles I came across references to ‘Four Posters’ and was immediately reminded of the four stones that I had looked at in 2007 and decided it was time to revisit and reassess the stones and their layout. The four stones are located on the gentle north eastern slopes of Bryn Alyn’s most southerly peak, just above the old lead miners track from Pen-y-Coed cottage. Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths Site 70-2 Description: The structure is made up of four orthostats that roughly form a rhomboid, each stone occupying one of the inter cardinal points of a compass. I have designated each stone with a number starting with 1 in the North East corner, moving clockwise around the structure. The largest boulder in the north east corner is now recumbent; in its upright position it would have roughly formed a square with the other three boulders. The collection of stones are all from local limestone that can be found scattered around the hill tops and slopes, stones 2 and 3 have been sculpted by water action with large fluted hollows at their base, similar to the stones found on the limestone pavements. Stone number 1, the recumbent stone would have been the tallest stone and would have stood 1.0 metre high, above ground level? (Its recumbent length is 1.13M). It could loosely be described as barrel shaped with a triangular apex. The remaining stones could be described as pyramidal with their obtuse points uppermost. As the boulders vary greatly in size, not only in height but also in plan view, it is impossible to form a perfect square. When plotting the position of the stones the apex of each stone was used as a trig point to enable an accurate plan to be drawn up (Fig. 2). Moving clockwise from the northeast stone the stones diminish in height, ending at number 4 in the northwest corner at a height of 0.37 metres, this grading of the stones is depicted below (Fig. 1). Note: The North East recumbent stone is shown upright No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 Figure 1 ‘Eryrys Four Poster’ graded orthostats shown in sequence Plan view (Fig. 2), shows the random and very irregular shapes of the 4 stone, this creates difficulties when describing with any accuracy, dimensions between the stones, the best that can be offered, is to say that the pitch between NE & NW is roughly 2 metres, the same as the pitch between NE & SE as well as NW & SW, the only difference is between SW & SE where the pitch is roughly 3 metres. The Northwest and Southwest boulders are aligned north-south, this could also be true of the NE and SE boulders, but we don’t know the original position of the now recumbent stone. It is interesting to note that the grading of the boulder heights follows a clockwise pattern. The internal space within the stones is close cropped grass, the undulating surface slopes gently to the east. In the western segment there is a large oval boulder that lies just beneath the surface vegetation, in relatively recent times this stone would have been exposed. Using a steel probe around the perimeter it was possible to get some idea of its shape and approximate dimensions, 60cms by 50cms. A Probe was also used at random places within the square but found the soil depth varied considerably from 6cms to 15cms, whilst outside the square the soil depth was considerably deeper, suggesting that something just below the surface was far from natural. Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths Site 70-3 Plan view of the Eryrys orthostats Figure 2 North West North East Recumbent South West South East South West South East Eryrys Orthostats shown in rotation Plate 2 Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths Site 70-4 Research: Looking through old journals/books and web sites that referenced ‘Four Posters’, a number of observations became obvious, firstly there was a lot of contradiction of site records, with the same stones being given different heights, some reports gave the grading as clockwise whilst others gave it as anticlockwise. Secondly, there was a distinct lack of information, some sites simply said 4 stones, whilst other gave their heights and cardinal locations along with dimensions and a description of the site. What it did show was that there was no definitive method as to how ‘Four Posters’ were constructed, consequently they could be virtually any geometric shape that fitted the description of quadrilateral; square, rectangular, trapezoidal, rhomboid or kite shaped. In most cases the stones were graded in sequence, whilst some diminished in a clockwise motion others diminished anticlockwise. It didn’t appear to be of importance as to where the tallest stone was located, the records showed that all 4 inter-cardinal points had been used at one time or another. Their location could be anything from gentle east or west facing mountain slopes and terraces to hill tops and plains. Recumbent stones are commonly featured in the Stone Circles of Scotland, but only occasionally were they found in ‘Four Posters’. The case for describing the stones as a ‘Four Poster’ was initially problematic, the stones didn’t exactly form a square, if anything they were more rhomboid in shape. More importantly, was the northeast stone recumbent or was it as the retreating ice had deposited it? If it was in its natural position then it was unlikely to be a ‘Four Poster’. There are however some common features that occur enough to convinced me that I was looking at a ‘Four poster’. (a) They were all quadrilaterals. (b) If a stone was recumbent then it was usually the case that it was the largest stone. (c) They stones were all positioned over the inter cardinal points e.g. NE, SW and not N or S (d) The vast majority were all graded (e) All were late Bronze Age (which would fit in with Lynx Cave & the Eryrys Horseshoe. The Eryrys structure has all of these features, but definitive proof would be needed to convince any sceptics. November 2014: With such a variety of shapes and combinations of grading and locations it was difficult in this instance to say categorically that we were looking at a ‘Four Poster’. Friends I introduced to what I believed to be a ‘Four Poster’ were not impressed and viewed them as just 4 random stones in a field. The only way I could see to give the megalith some credence would be to dig a shallow test pit adjacent to the central boulder. The depth would only need to be sufficient to expose what the undulating rock was within the four stones and at the same time give visual access to under the boulder. A pit was dug 60cms long by 25cms wide and to a depth of 20cms and was aligned southeast from the internal boulder. This pit revealed not only that the boulder was sitting on a pit of water washed pebbles but also that the undulations picked up by the probe was also a bed of pebbles (Plate 3) The pebbles are of mixed origin and are all water washed. Plate 4A shows a collection of pebbles taken from the test pit, Plate 4B is a collection taken Test Pit Plate 3 Digs, Discoveries & Megaliths Site 70-5 from the river Alyn at the bottom of the valley below Bryn Alyn (2 kilometres away) and show them to be remarkably similar. Pebbles from excavation Plate 4A Pebbles from River bed Plate 4B The fact that the central boulder was embedded below the surface of the pebbles suggests that the boulder has not been disturbed and if there is a burial beneath it, it has not been compromised by my excavation or any previous excavations and should still be intact. The extent that the pebbles cover the internal space between the Orthostats is unknown. It may follow the shape of the ‘Four Poster’ on the other hand they may simply have been scattered randomly within the stones and around the boulder. Alternatively it is possible that it is oval in shape with the internal faces of the orthostats touching the perimeter. The answer can only be revealed by excavating the whole site which I feel is not necessary to prove its credibility.