Stones or pillars were the earliest records of all great or highly
interesting events. Covenants, important treaties or victories, the
deaths of distinguished persons, or dearly beloved friends, the settled
boundaries of estates, were all recorded in this simple, but for the
time, no doubt, sufficient manner. The first historical notice bearing
directly upon the subject is the scriptural mention of a stone set up by
Jacob to commemorate his vision. (Gen. xxviii. 18.) The size of this
stone was necessarily small, like perhaps, those ancient stones dispersed
about our own country, three or four feet high, and whose history lies
too far back even for the reach of tradition. We may also mention the
stone set up by Joshua, under the oak of Shechem, a little before his
death, when he made the Israelites once more solemnly renew their
covenant with God. (Josh. xxiv. 26.) In the First Book of Samuel, chap.
vi. 15, 18, a stone of great magnitude is referred to, and which was
previously well known as the great stone of Abel. The solemn treaty of
peace concluded between Jacob and Laban was marked by the erection of a
rude pillar. (Gen. xxxi. 45.)
The custom of setting up large stones to commemorate victories, we find,
from the sacred writings, was also in use among the Hebrews. The
Ebenezer, or “stone of help,” set up by Samuel, is an instance of this
nature. (1 Sam. vii. 12.) In the British Isles the custom appears to
have been not only common, but to have continued down to a late period.
Thus we find Malcolm, son of Kenneth, King of Scots, commemorating his
victory over the Danes in this mode in 1008. Near Newbridge, in the
county of Cork, Ireland, are three large stones set edgeways towards each
other, which are said, by an incontrovertible tradition, to refer to a
battle fought on the spot between Brian Boiruma, King of Munster, and the
O’Mahonies of Carbery, assisted by the Danes, most of whom were slain.
With regard to sepulchral stones, we may observe, that when cases
occurred with the Hebrews, that it became necessary to inter
distinguished persons at a distance from the resting-places of their
fathers, the rude pillar was then set up to mark the place. It was under
circumstances of this nature that Jacob set up a stone over his beloved
Rachel. (Gen. xxxv. 20.)—Among some of the nations of antiquity, the
custom was very general; the Greeks, for instance, had for ages no other
funeral monuments than a rough unhewn stone, set upon the top of a
tumulus. In the “Iliad” we find Paris, whilst in the act of using the
bow against the enemy, bending behind the pillar placed on the tumulus
that contained the ashes of Ilus, the son of Dardanus, the ancient king
of Troy. Minutely corresponding with this monument is the one at Castle
More, near Tullagh, Ireland. It consists of a tumulus 30 feet in
perpendicular height, with a square stone on the top, about 5 feet in
height. We have one positive and interesting case on record of the
erection of a vast monument of this kind. Harold, the son of Gormon,
employed his whole army to draw a stone of enormous size from the shores
of Jutland, to be placed over the grave of his mother. We may observe
that our own churchyards, to this day, present but a modification of the
usages we have described—in the mound and headstone we still see the
tumulus and pillar of ancient times. To this origin, doubtless, may be
referred many, if not all, of the large stones isolated from Druidical
remains, and dispersed in different parts of the county.
The _maen hir_, or long stone, is very common in this Island. There is
nothing, however, in its name which would indicate its original use, or
the object for which it was raised, unless, indeed, we give the word
_hir_, the sense of longing or regret, as being the root of _hiraeth_; in
that case it might imply that the stone was a memorial of the dead.
There is no doubt that, in some instances, it was used as a monument to
point out the grave of a particular person.
Thus an extract from an old document is inserted by Mr. Price in his
“Hanes Cymru,” (History of Wales) to the following effect:—“The _Meini
Hirion_ (long stones) of _Maes Mawr_ (of the Great Plain.) There is a
spot on the mountain between Yale and Ystrad Alun, above Rhyd-y-Gyfartha,
called the Great Plain, where occurred the battle between Meilyr ab — and
Beli ab Benlli Gawr, and where Beli was slain; and Meirion erected two
stones, one at each end of the grave, which remained until the last forty
years. It was then that a “tasteless” person, owner of the piece of
land, which had been enclosed, where the grave and stones were, came and
pulled up the stones, and placed them over the pipe of a lime-kiln.
There, in consequence of the intense heat and great weight, they broke.
Whereupon he burnt them into lime in the kiln, though they had been there
for many hundred years; and a bad end happened unto him who had thus
defaced the grave of the deceased soldier, about which the bard, in the
“Stanzas of the Graves,” sang this triplet:—
Whose is the grave in the Great Plain?
Proud was his hand on the weapon of war—
It is the grave of Beli the son of Benlli Gawr!”
There are several of these monumental stones in the immediate
neighbourhood of Holyhead, and though their history is unknown, I have
not a doubt on my mind but they were originally erected as _memorial
stones_, to point out the grave of some distinguished person or persons,
or as monuments to commemorate some signal victory.
About a mile from Holyhead, on the way to Trefigneth cromlechi, on the
right hand, in a field called _Cae’r Garreg_ (stone field), stands a
memorial stone, 8 feet long, and 10 feet in circumference at the base,
tapering to about 5 feet. On leaving this stone, and just before you
reach Trefigneth, opposite a cow-shed, under the left-hand wall, a _cist
faen_, or stone coffin, was found some time ago, containing a human
skeleton. About half a mile further, near _Trefarthur_ (the abode of
Arthur), in a field on the right hand, called _Caynyodd_, are two stones,
one erect, about 5 feet in length, and 13 in circumference, and the
other, reposing on the ground, nearly 8 feet long.
About a mile and a half to the west of Holyhead, at _Plas_ farm, in the
occupation of O. Owen, Esq., are two large stones. The western one is 10
feet long, 6½ feet in circumference, tapering to about 4 feet. The
northern stone is 10 feet long, 6½ feet in circumference, tapering to
about 5 feet.