It is therefore, obvious, that these cromlechs were erected long before the fatal slaughter by Suetonius; and it is nearly 1800 years since he gave a death-blow to the system.
This must be a deeply interesting spot to visit, at a time when the summer’s sun smiles on every object. As has been observed it was winter when the writer visited the cromlechs; but even then the prospect was grand. Standing here you have a most commanding view in every direction, comprising, sea and land, mountain and plain, lake and river. The towering mountains of Carnarvonshire, like another world, ethereal, brilliant, transparent as crystal, appeared in the distance covered with snow, and presented a resemblance to the Alps; far above the rest, Snowdon lifted its patriarchal head so loftily, as if it meant not only to threaten, but to thrust it into the sky. The sun, hastening towards the western skies, threw his parting rays upon this Alpine range of mountains, gilding them so magnificently, that the writer and his accompanying friend were led to exclaim, “Winter has its beauties as well as summer.”
ANCIENT STONES OF MEMORIAL.
Stones or pillars were the earliest records of all great or highly interesting events. Covenants, important treaties or victories, the deaths of distinguished persons, or dearly beloved friends, the settled boundaries of estates, were all recorded in this simple, but for the time, no doubt, sufficient manner. The first historical notice bearing directly upon the subject is the scriptural mention of a stone set up by Jacob to commemorate his vision. (Gen. xxviii. 18.) The size of this stone was necessarily small, like perhaps, those ancient stones dispersed about our own country, three or four feet high, and whose history lies too far back even for the reach of tradition. We may also mention the stone set up by Joshua, under the oak of Shechem, a little before his death, when he made the Israelites once more solemnly renew their covenant with God. (Josh. xxiv. 26.) In the First Book of Samuel, chap. vi. 15, 18, a stone of great magnitude is referred to, and which was previously well known as the great stone of Abel. The solemn treaty of peace concluded between Jacob and Laban was marked by the erection of a rude pillar. (Gen. xxxi. 45.)
The custom of setting up large stones to commemorate victories, we find, from the sacred writings, was also in use among the Hebrews. The Ebenezer, or “stone of help,” set up by Samuel, is an instance of this nature. (1 Sam. vii. 12.) In the British Isles the custom appears to have been not only common, but to have continued down to a late period. Thus we find Malcolm, son of Kenneth, King of Scots, commemorating his victory over the Danes in this mode in 1008. Near Newbridge, in the county of Cork, Ireland, are three large stones set edgeways towards each other, which are said, by an incontrovertible tradition, to refer to a battle fought on the spot between Brian Boiruma, King of Munster, and the O’Mahonies of Carbery, assisted by the Danes, most of whom were slain.
With regard to sepulchral stones, we may observe, that when cases occurred with the Hebrews, that it became necessary to inter distinguished persons at a distance from the resting-places of their fathers, the rude pillar was then set up to mark the place. It was under circumstances of this nature that Jacob set up a stone over his beloved Rachel. (Gen. xxxv. 20.)—Among some of the nations of antiquity, the custom was very general; the Greeks, for instance, had for ages no other funeral monuments than a rough unhewn stone, set upon the top of a tumulus. In the “Iliad” we find Paris, whilst in the act of using the bow against the enemy, bending behind the pillar placed on the tumulus that contained the ashes of Ilus, the son of Dardanus, the ancient king of Troy. Minutely corresponding with this monument is the one at Castle More, near Tullagh, Ireland. It consists of a tumulus 30 feet in perpendicular height, with a square stone on the top, about 5 feet in height. We have one positive and interesting case on record of the erection of a vast monument of this kind. Harold, the son of Gormon, employed his whole army to draw a stone of enormous size from the shores of Jutland, to be placed over the grave of his mother. We may observe that our own churchyards, to this day, present but a modification of the usages we have described—in the mound and headstone we still see the tumulus and pillar of ancient times. To this origin, doubtless, may be referred many, if not all, of the large stones isolated from Druidical remains, and dispersed in different parts of the county.
The maen hir, or long stone, is very common in this Island. There is nothing, however, in its name which would indicate its original use, or the object for which it was raised, unless, indeed, we give the word hir, the sense of longing or regret, as being the root of hiraeth; in that case it might imply that the stone was a memorial of the dead. There is no doubt that, in some instances, it was used as a monument to point out the grave of a particular person.
Thus an extract from an old document is inserted by Mr. Price in his “Hanes Cymru,” (History of Wales) to the following effect:—“The Meini Hirion (long stones) of Maes Mawr (of the Great Plain.) There is a spot on the mountain between Yale and Ystrad Alun, above Rhyd-y-Gyfartha, called the Great Plain, where occurred the battle between Meilyr ab — and Beli ab Benlli Gawr, and where Beli was slain; and Meirion erected two stones, one at each end of the grave, which remained until the last forty years. It was then that a “tasteless” person, owner of the piece of land, which had been enclosed, where the grave and stones were, came and pulled up the stones, and placed them over the pipe of a lime-kiln. There, in consequence of the intense heat and great weight, they broke. Whereupon he burnt them into lime in the kiln, though they had been there for many hundred years; and a bad end happened unto him who had thus defaced the grave of the deceased soldier, about which the bard, in the “Stanzas of the Graves,” sang this triplet:—
Whose is the grave in the Great Plain?
Proud was his hand on the weapon of war—
It is the grave of Beli the son of Benlli Gawr!”
There are several of these monumental stones in the immediate neighbourhood of Holyhead, and though their history is unknown, I have not a doubt on my mind but they were originally erected as memorial stones, to point out the grave of some distinguished person or persons, or as monuments to commemorate some signal victory.