Wales

That must have been interesting Anniebach, transcribing census returns....

I loved doing it sparkly, and seeing the original registers from 1837 and the church records from way before that. Took several years but I learned so much .

Taking a while to settle back (Somerset) after my trip to Anglesey where I met up with school friends. One spoke about driving from Caernarvonshire to Cardiff so I followed her example....but headed for the M4 at Newport, it was glory all the way. The sun shone, the views were spectacular and varied, mountains, river valleys and the roads were(mostly) quiet. I saved about 30 miles and a huge amount of tension!

Love Wales many happy memories of little family holidays in a little wooden chalet in "Benlech Bay" I remember viiting a place called "Piggery Pottery" and going on a little train to the slate mines. Oh and the "Great Orme" such a magnificent view from up there and a lovely little church at the top (Think St Tudnos" maybe! The last little weekend dhand I had was in Llandudno.. would love to go back but not sure if I can just yet..There is something calming about Llandudnno.
It was on my bucket list to ride round the "Great Orme" on my motorcycle, but unfortunately had to sell it ..

meant the last little weekend DH and I had was in Llandudno on the sea front..

Biker, my sis lives overlooking those wooden chalets/caravan park, in Benllech. Used to be called Golden Sunset holidays, ironical really as most faced N/East.

ohh yessss Oldgreymare how lovely I cant rem what the chalet was called...think it was about the 4th one down, it had a little long narrow sunroom on front with a garage at the side, it had no loo in them days! belonged to a friend of ours who let us have it cheap..

Oldgreymare look what Ive found!!!

thats me and my younger dd sat outside the chalet..she would be about 3 or 4 there so thats about 30 yrs ago..ohh memories..

Many thanks for the Betws y Coed translation a couple of days ago Annie, when I first heard that I thought it related to a woman (Betsy) I hadn't stumbled upon the spelling back then.

We do of course have a little bit of Wales in England, the monoliths at Stonehenge were reputedly were dragged all the way from Wales, just how they did that 5000 years ago is one of life's great imponderables. I marvel at it whenever we drive past. Thanks for the stones Wales, hope you don't want them back

Biker.... WOW. I'll look it up next time I'm there and, hopefully , take a pic (then and now!)I think I know where it is.

Terri, the blue stones at stonhenge are the same as stones in the Priseli mountains , two theories by archiologists

1. They were transported from Pembrokeshire to Wiltshire by bessts pulling carts And use of rafts !

2. They were moved by a glacier

Take your pick ?

Or 3. They haven't the foggiest but are desperate to discover how the devil they got there , this is Annie's theory .

You may keep them, one thing we are not short of is mountain stones and slates ?

ohh Oldgreymare that would be interesting and memory jerking!
It had a garage on the right hand side (if you were stood looking at the front of the chalet) obviously it may have changed now and been altered, it had a welsh name on a piece of slate/stone near the door somewhere. will look forward to seeing it again (if its still standing)! thats very kind of you

Anniebach I think Time Team did a reconstruction using rolling logs that makes the theory they were moved by hand from the Priseli mountains to Stonehenge....its a long way though!

Thanks Annie just googled Preseli Mountains and see they are in the Pembroke National Park we were quite near there on our last visit to Wales. So, they didn't transport them down over the Severn Bridge and up along the M4 I don't think the wheel was even invented then, not being facetious, maybe they had it in more advanced cultures of the time say Egypt. I always thought they dragged them, but the rolling log theory as mentioned by Sparklygrandma is an interesting one. Nevertheless, must have taken a while and a lot of manpower. As you say how they got there and then erected them into position is something that I find truly amazing.

I saw the Time Team reconstruction, truth is no one knows or ever will

They can have a good guess I suppose. It will have taken a lot of effort even using rolling logs but my main question would be ''why''.

Why not build Stonehenge near the Preseli mountains?

Not enough flat ground ? or even then England v Wales

Also as the British Isles at that time were made up of tribes who traded their goods, how did those responsible for Stonehenge know that the stones for their structure were to be found in Wales, did they stumble upon them by chance, maybe word of mouth and help themselves, I suppose everything belonged to anybody then, or was there some inter tribal trade deal struck up. Who knows!

I believe there was already a wooden version at Stonehenge well before any stones were brought there. Maybe someone wanted to show their power by doing an upgrade?

If you read Mary Stewart's series (fiction of course, but a great yarn, and as likely as any other theory) which starts with "The Crystal Cave", she attributes the moving of the stones to King Arthur's time, and the actual planning and execution of the removal to Merlin. According to the legends, he did it by "magic and music" - the version in the book is that Merlin had been present when other stones had been moved by large numbers of people hauling on ropes while singing kept the rhythm for their pulling, and used this experience along with his own intelligence and engineering knowledge.

Certainly great building works like the pyramids were constructed from stones brought long distances purely by manpower and lifted into place without modern powered machinery.

Knowledge travelled from tribe to tribe as well as traded goods, and a strong leader could call on labour from his followers. There could have been inter-tribe connections through marriage or patronage. He could probably buy stone just as well as buying any other thing, and not all that expensively if the inhabitants of the stone quarries were less skilled than his masons and less able to cut it and build with it. Or if he was very strong, he could just take it!

I would think stone masons in the Welsh mountains would not be less skilled than stone masons in Wiltshire

They would have had plenty of practice! Maybe they were employed to do the cutting, transferring and installing (and paid well)? Or are the stones naturally shaped into dolmens? Do they split along regular(ish) lines?

Why not build Stonehenge near the Preseli mountains?
Sparkly it was only the smaller bluestones which were from the Preseli Mountains (apparently).

The massive sarsen stones are made of sandstone from the local area.

How much level ground is there near the Preselli mountains?