Harold’s Stones - Trelleck, UK.
Posted by: 
BRISTOLIAN
N 51° 44.570 W 002° 43.596
30U E 518876 N 5732471
Three Bronze Age standing stones.
Waymark Code: WM145J4
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/20/2021
Views: 0
Three large standing stones (Puddingstone) form a row in a farm field. Local legend says the stones commemorate a victory over the Britons by King Harold, but they probably date to the early Bronze Age.
This intriguing row of three standing stones is set in a farm field close to the B4293 road between Monmouth and Chepstow. The name of the village of Trellech comes from the stone row. The Welsh word 'tre' translates as 'three' and 'llech' as a stone, so Trellech means three stones, or 'place of the three stones'. It is interesting that there was likely a fourth stone nearby, though this was destroyed in the 18th century. Another interpretation is that the stones formed part of a much larger monument, perhaps a stone circle.
Type: Stone Row
Parking: N 51° 44.576 W 002° 43.598
Number: 3.00
Size:
The three stones range in size. 9ft, 12ft and 15ft. They run in a line of 39ft approx.
Source:
The source of the Trellech stones may have been the nearby Beacon Hill where there are outcrops of a similar conglomerate.
Purpose:
The row of stones is known as Harold's Stones after a legend that the stones mark the graves of 3 chieftains who fell in battle against the Welsh while serving under a Roman leader named Harold. Another version of the story says that the stones commemorate a victory by King Harold of Wessex, the last of the Saxon kings, who defeated the native Britons in a fierce battle here in 1063. Yet another story says that a legendary giant named Jack o'Kent flung the 3 stones from Skirrid mountain, 14 miles distant while playing a game with another giant. Or perhaps it was from the summit of Beacon Hill, just a mile away. And perhaps it wasn't another giant but the devil.
|
Visit Instructions:
Pictures welcome if they are different from the original, and additions to the information are most welcome.
Your impressions of the monument are more important, please share your thoughts on the place, and most of all enjoy the Waymark.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|