Bryn Celli Ddu

Bryn Celli Ddu (Dark Grove Barrow) is a prehistoric Neolithic site located on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The site's most prominent feature today is a cairn, which encloses a stone burial chamber. Within the cairn stands a smooth stone pillar, approximately two meters high. Although the cairn is now considerably smaller than its original form, it remains one of the best-preserved monuments of its kind. The passage leading to the burial chamber, dating from the late third to early second millennia BCE, stretches 8.4 meters and is aligned to the east, allowing sunlight to naturally illuminate the burial chamber during the summer solstice. Originally, this passage was sealed with a large stone. Evidence of the tomb's use over different periods is reflected in evidence of burial practices found at the site. Archaeological investigations in the late 1920s revealed that the burial chamber was constructed over an older circular ritual monument, known as a henge, which had been built approximately a thousand years earlier. This is further supported by the discovery of a carved stone decorated with wavy, serpentine patterns, originally located beneath the mound, along with other remnants of the original henge.