The broken ancient standing stone at Bedd Morris. [Clive Morgan]
Posted on 10/17/2011 6:46:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
An ancient monument has crashed to the ground after standing for more than 4,000 years as an important landmark.
The famous standing stone at Bedd Morris, on Newport mountain, was snapped over the weekend, toppling over and crushing a nearby fence.
Archaeologist Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, an expert who has worked on several sites in the Preselis, plans to play an active role in getting the stone reinstated.
He said: "It's a tragedy, the stone has snapped and it's a real mess.
"It's an important landscape feature and an important archaeological site and it must be put back as soon as possible."
He added: "Hopefully the stone should go back up and no-one will ever know the difference.
"For centuries people have gone up the top road and seen the stone, which is a scheduled monument."
It is believed the two metre high, bronze age stone was hit by a vehicle travelling on the Cwm Gwaun to Newport road.
Newport mayor Byron James was shocked by the incident and told the Western Telegraph he was looking into the matter.
The National Park Authority has arranged a meeting at the site of the stone to determine how the damage occurred happened, with the authority's archaeologist and Cadw representatives.
An Authority spokesman said: "Bedd Morris is an impressive, very tall standing stone, well over six foot. It is a scheduled ancient monument thought to date from the bronze age. It now marks the parish boundary between Newport and Pontfaen.
"About five years ago, after a traffic collision, Cadw and the Park Authority's archaeologist carried out successful consolidation work on Bedd Morris and it has continued to stand strong ever since."
(Excerpt) Read more at westerntelegraph.co.uk ...
The broken ancient standing stone at Bedd Morris. [Clive Morgan]
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Last of the summer wine. |
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I gotta say any car hitting that would still be there lol.
I thought we weren’t supposed to interfere with nature at work?
Kinda reminds of the world’s most remote tree (an acacia in Africa) that is in the Guiness Book of World Records. At some point someone backed into it with their vehicle they were driving.
Some time in the 1800s, long after all the relatives had abandoned Brittony for better spots, "they" (meaning the French) decided to build a canal in the area. Many of the best stones, including ALL of the ones showing sign of finishing, were hauled away to line the banks of the canal.
That stone is lucky it lasted so long.
Was the car driven by a man named "Griswold?"
Nice rock but for the guy to use the word tragic is a bit over the top.....
Why reinstate it? Can’t it be important as the ancient lying stone?
Yep! Surprised it lasted this long on the side of that road.
I remember reading something about that. It was an army truck during WWII. Only tree within three or four hundred miles.
So... Stand it back up. Doesn’t seem complicated to me.
LOL
It was a drunk Libyan that hit it!
http://my.opera.com/KayFour/blog/2007/04/15/the-worlds-most-isolated-tre
It would make a great ad for Super glue.
True dat.
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