Monuments | Folk Customs

Category Archives: Monuments

The Eleanor Crosses

Posted on 23rd July 2017 by Iain Monks 2 comments

Replica cross outside Charing Cross Station

When you see road signs telling you the distance to London the distance given is to a point at the South of Trafalgar Square where a statue to Charles I currently stands. A plaque on the floor tells you that this was the location of the original Charing Cross (a replica of which now stands outside Charing Cross Station.

To find out how the original hamlet of Charing came to get such a monument and the addition to it’s name, we have to go back to the end of the 13^th Century.

Posted in Medieval (1066AD - 1485AD), Kings and Queens, Lincolnshire, Monuments

Beth Gelert; or, the Grave of the Greyhound

Posted on 2nd January 2014 by Iain Monks Leave a comment

To the south of the villiage of Beddgelert in The Snowdonia National Park is a small stone monument marks the resting place of Gelert the faithful hound of the medieval Welsh Prince Llewelyn the Great.

Gelert

The spearmen heard the bugle sound,
And cheerly smiled the morn;
And many a brach, and many a hound,
Obeyed Llewelyn’s horn.

And still he blew a louder blast,
And gave a lustier cheer:
‘Come, Gelert come, wer’t never last
Llewelyn’s horn to hear.

‘Oh where does faithful Gelert roam,
The flower of all his race;
So true, so brave, a lamb at home,
A lion in the chase?’

‘Twas only at Llewelyn’s board
The faithful Gelert fed;
He watched, he served, he cheered his lord,
And sentinelled his bed. Read more »

Posted in Animals, Caernarfonshire, Monuments, Songs and Poems

The Construction of Stonehenge

Posted on 1st January 2014 by Iain Monks Leave a comment

Situated on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Stonehenge is probably the most iconic monument in the whole of Europe. The construction of this megalithic structure is thought to have been begun with the bank and ditch around 3000BC and there is evidence of several phases of construction over the next 1500 years.

The significance of the site may be much older as mesolithic postholes dated to circa 8000BC were found in the area now used for the visitor car park.

The origins of Stonehenge proper dates from around the time when early neolithic people started deforesting Salisbury Plain to make way for their farms. There is also a proliferation of long-barrow tombs in the area from this time.

Stonehenge

The first stage of construction of the monument we see today was a bank and ditch 360ft (110m) in diameter. Recent excavation at Durrington Walls, thought to be a campsite for the builders suggests that around 4,000 people from all over the country gathered at the site at the mid-summer and mid-winter festivals.

Also dating from this time are the series of 56 pits (known as Aubrey holes) that form a circle within the outer edge of the enclosed area. Excavation of these holes revealed cremated remains and the chalk underlying these graves was crushed suggesting heavy stone grave markers.

Posted in Prehistoric (before 43AD), Monuments, Wiltshire