Tyfos Stone Circle

Llandrillo

The late Bronze Age Tyfos Stone Circle remains a bit of a mystery, this collection of stones a little above the floodplain of the River Dee on the outskirts of Llandrillo. There are those that believe that this circle of some thirteen boulders of varying size are the remains of a denuded cairn - the kerbstones of the mound. Others believe it to be a true stone circle, not unlike the nearby Moel Ty Uchaf Stone Circle high in the Berwyns and across the Dee to the east of Llandrillo. Both arguments have merits, of course, as you would expect from the clever and learned.

Ah well, we shall allow them their differences, as we wander away within and without this ancient wonder - this mystery of meaning. Whether a stone circle or a cairn, there is something deeply intentional about its siting - here on a gentle slope up from the River Dee. Not as high as Moel Ty Uchaf, but curiously as moving, given the beauty of the views along the Dee and the valley it meanders its way through. What was the intent of raising this circle of stones here? What was the meaning of this? Are we to look for something deeper than memory - is there, in fact such a thing? To stand here, amongst these weathered stones, is to be drawn back into reflection - those tethers to a deeper self we at best thought frayed to nothing, at worst had forgotten entirely, pulling us back to something tantalisingly vital and vibrant.

The Tyfos Stone Circle - a denuded ring cairn or a true stone circle?

There used to be more stones here, the circle is not complete. The Royal Commission writing in 1921 saw fourteen, and made plain that there had been many more - claiming to have seen several boulders in the surrounding hedges that they believed were originally part of the circle - others are said to be found in the nearby fields. The Royal Commission went as far as to suggest that there was once a menhir at the centre of the circle, though what evidence they had to come to this conclusion is unknown. Quite why these stones would be moved and left about so willy-nilly is curious. Was there a deliberate attempt to break the circle for no other reason than to somehow disrupt the meaning of the stones? Were they unacceptably irksome to some past community or individual. Still, enough remain to give rise to wonder.

The summit upon which Moel Ty Uchaf Stone Circle stands can be seen in the distance upon the Berwyns on the horizon.

It is clear why many have assumed that the circle is in fact the kerbstones of a cairn. The circle, some 16 - 17m in diameter, rests on a low grass covered platform of sorts, and it is a small easy leap to see a large mound rising above them from the past. And these cairns are, of course, ubiquitous in North East Wales. But the landscape gives rise to doubt. Tyfos is not the only stone circle overlooking the Dee here - there is the aforementioned Moel Ty Uchaf, of course, but also the little known Cerrig Bwlch Y Fedw a little further south in the Berwyns. And then there are the chambered tombs - Branas Uchaf, also on the western side of the Dee, not far south of Tyfos, and Tan-y-coed on the road to Cynwyd, north from Llandrillo. Curiously, for Tyfos to have been a cairn, seems almost out of keeping with this astonishing landscape. And I shall say it again; the emotional buffeting of simply being here now, in the Berwyns, by the Dee, and on the hills surrounding is, I feel, no different to that as experienced by our ancient ancestors. And so, these ancient monuments are a connection to our past, and whatever else their purpose was originally, this is to be valued and protected.

*Please Note ~ While splendidly viewable from the road, the Circle is on private property, so do please ask permission from the owner at the farmhouse before visiting it up close and personal.*