November 5, 1908] 



NA TURE 



SOME CROMLECHS IN NORTH WALES.' 

 II. 



BEFORE I refer to other matters I give a plan made 

 by Mr. Neil Baynes, which he kindly permits me 

 to use, of the cromlech at Ty Newydd. It shows well 

 the kind of nut the archaeologist has to crack when 

 cromlechs are studied astronomically. It appears 



Fio. 6.— Plan of ihe Ty Newydd Cromlech. 



twice in Mr. Griffith's list. I made it out as oriented 

 to the -winter solstice rising, Mr. Baynes to the 

 summer solstice rising. We took our angles along 

 two surfaces of the same nearly rectangular supporter 

 A ; I nearly along the line of the quoit, he across it. 

 I also give a copy of a photograph taken by my wife 

 showing the clino-compass in the line of the 

 outlook between the stones a and c. 

 Either reading may be the correct one, but, 

 be it remarked, both are solstitial, and no 

 other astronomical alignment is suggested 

 by the arrangement of the stones. It may 

 be that the outlook was between the stones 

 c and B, the direction being parallel to the 

 south surface of a, and not as I placed 

 it; on this view we are dealing with the 

 summer solstice sunrise, and this may be 

 accepted for the statistical statement. 



With regard to the distribution of the 

 sight-lines, the most abundant are the sol- 

 stitial ; summer solstice, 3, winter solstice, 

 4, total 7. 



Next comes the May year, both May and 

 November (3), and last of all the equinoxes 

 Ij). With regard to warning stars, two 

 alignments to the Pleiades were noted ; of 

 cromlech alignments on a clock-star none 

 was seen. There is one case at Lligwy 

 of a clock-star alignment from an equinoc- 

 tial cromlech. At Plas Newydd and Bryn 

 Celli Ddu there were outlying stones to be 

 further examined. 



.'\s the measures recorded by Mr. Griffith are the 

 only ones available, we are compelled, if we wish 

 to make comparisons with other temple-fields, to take 

 them as fair samples of the distribution of the various 

 alignments in the region under investigation, although 

 ihe number of cromlechs included, fifteen, is doubtless 



1 Continued from vol. Ixxvui., p. 635. 

 SO. 2036, VOL. 79] 



only a small fraction of those which remain to be 

 examined when the Welsh archaeologists set to work. 



The most remarkable fact is the total absence of 

 circles and avenues in the region examined. In 

 another cromlech region, Brittany, we have no circles, 

 but a preponderance of avenues. 



Next, the Cornish solar monuments deal chiefly 

 with the May year. This is reversed in North Wales, 

 where the solstitial year is mainly in question. In 

 Brittany the avenues seem fairly divided between 

 the May and solstitial years ; touching the cromlechs 

 there I have no information. 



Another point is the absence of clock-star align- 

 ments. This, perhaps, may be associated with the 

 absence of circles either of the Cornish or Aberdeen 

 type. In Aberdeenshire we find a very large propor- 

 tion of the alignments set out for observations of 

 clock-stars. In Cornwall they are about as numerous 

 as the solar alignments. Indeed, the great distinc- 

 tion between North Wales and Aberdeen lies, not only 

 in the absence of cromlechs in Aberdeen, but in the 

 large percentage of clock-star alignments as com- 

 pared with solar alignments. There is an inversion. 



I pointed out when discussing the .Aberdeen results 

 that the number of true north alignments, almost 

 entirely absent in Cornwall, might indicate that clock- 

 star work was being given up in consequence of a 

 much better knov\ledge of astronomy rendering the 

 observations of the rising of clock-stars unnecessary. 

 The question is, does this consideration explain the 

 verv small attention to clock-stars in North Wales? 

 If so. North Wales is later than Aberdeen. In true 

 north alignments a cromlech could not be conveni- 

 ently used, but, unfortunately, circles seem not to 

 have entered into the North Wales building system, 

 so that the question cannot be settled by statistics. 



In Aberdeenshire the number of May-year and sol- 

 stitial alignments measured was about the same, but 

 I found reason for thinking that some May monu- 

 ments had been tampered with. As these w'ere not 

 included in the tables, there was a slight prepon- 



Fhoto. by Lady Lockyer. 

 Fig 7.— The Ty Newydd Cromlech looking S.E. 



derance to the solstitialists, but not so great as in 

 W'ales. 



There are many arguments which may be used to 

 show that, as in Egypt, the solstitial year followed 

 the May year, and, accepting them, there is a clear 

 indication that the more prolific building period in 

 North Wales was later than in Cornwall. 



