Standing Stones of North West Wales

Standing stones and circles were constructed during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (c. 3500BC – 1400BC) a time that spanned over 2000 years.

Nothing much is known of the religious beliefs of the people that constructed such monuments and nothing is certain about their function. Such stones have proven difficult to date; however, due to findings of pottery found underneath some of the excavated stones, we can assume they were probably erected during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age – which would link them perhaps to the Beaker Culture, or an earlier period.

We do know that people buried their dead in tombs around the same time and were very skilled and organised in achieving such feats. We have to take into consideration that times were changing, a change that brought new ideas and religious beliefs that included rituals and a social hierarchy.

It has been proposed that standing stones may have been around for longer than ancient burials, but identifying their purpose has been difficult to prove. We could speculate that standing stones may have been used to judge the position of the sun or for ceremonial purposes such as fertility rites or pointers towards seasonal cycles for the early farming communities, or even as directional markers pointing towards ancient pathways or burial chambers.

I have included an O/S number on all historical sites to enable everyone to locate using an O/S map.