Arthur's Stone, Gower (Maen Cetti)
Maen Cetti · Great Stone of Sketty
Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age·Severn-Cotswold / Gower Neolithic·🇬🇧 Gower Peninsula, Wales, United Kingdom
About
About Arthur's Stone, Gower (Maen Cetti)
Massive Neolithic burial chamber on Gower's Cefn Bryn ridge with 40-tonne (25 t cited) conglomerate capstone 4 m × 3 m split in 1693 to discover interment — supported on limestone orthostats over double chamber divided by slabs. Built c.2500 BCE? Long cairn 25 m leveled by antiquarians. Arthurian legend attributes stone to Arthur's pebble from shoe. Offers panorama over Gower. Geological sourcing indicates glacial erratic conglomerate selection for visual prominence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why conglomerate glacial boulder selected and transported
Theories
- 01Display of raw capstone colour marking territory over Swansea Bay
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 3700–2500 BCE
- Period
- Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age
- Culture
- Severn-Cotswold / Gower Neolithic
- Purpose
- Double portal dolmen burial chamber within long cairn
- Abandoned
- Bronze Age
- Rediscovered
- Split 1693; antiquarian 18th century
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 3700–2500 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1132 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
51.5939° N · 4.1795° W · 130 m · 1 mapped feature
Split capstone
capstoneConglomerate capstone split lengthwise 1693, now two blocks
51.5939° N · 4.1795° W