Penllech Coetan Arthur

Also known as:
Arthur's Quoit, Cefn Amlwch Cromlech and Mynydd Cefn Amwlch
Nearest town:
Pwllheli (14km ENE)
OS reference:
SH229346
OS sheet:
123
Latitude:
52° 52' 45.35 N
Longitude:
4° 37' 55.59 W

Images

Image of Penllech Coetan Arthur (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by Rhiannon

From ‘Cromlech on Mynydd Cefn Ammwlch, Caernarvonshire’ in Archaeologia Cambrensis vol. 6, April 1847.

Image credit: G.A.H.?
Rhiannon
Rhiannon May 5, 2016
Image of Penllech Coetan Arthur (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by GLADMAN

Looking towards the hillfort/sacred hill Carn Fadryn.......

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
GLADMAN
GLADMAN Jan 17, 2011
Image of Penllech Coetan Arthur (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

I suppose the fence protects the dolmen from animal rubbing.One of the chamber walls lies some way from the Dolmen.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006
Image of Penllech Coetan Arthur (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

Another aspect of the delightful Dolmen.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006
Image of Penllech Coetan Arthur (Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech) by hamish

Another nice pointy hat Dolmen,I think they are great.

Image credit: Mike Murray
hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006

Articles

Penllech Coetan Arthur

blossom
blossom Jul 31, 2011

Follow the B4417 Nefyn to Pengroeslon Road. Just before Penllech there is a sharp left hand bend in the road. Just on the bend is a left hand turn. Take this road. The lane passes through a wooded area. As soon as the woods end there is a a yard on the right hand side with a metal shed/garage. The chamber is in the field just beyond this yard. There is a kissing gate leading into the field.

I parked here as there was no one around but as we were leaving the owners of the garage turned up. They were fine with us being there once we explained why we were parked up there.

It looks like the fencing has recently been replaced so I didn’t manage to get in. The capstone is huge. The setting is lovely.

Penllech Coetan Arthur

hamish
hamish Oct 1, 2006

This is one of Wales’ lovely pointy hatted Dolmens.It is situated halfway up a sloping field not far from the hedge wall.I really found this by chance.I was driving to Aberdaron and glimpsed this whilest passing.I stopped in a farm drive way and went back.Glad I did,well worth looking for if you are in the area.

Penllech Coetan Arthur

Wotan
Wotan Feb 18, 2002

Visited this place around 1985, beautiful summer day and the first thing that struck me was the colours. The Foxgloves around the monument contrasted sharply with the blooms of lichen and moss on the uprights and the sun beamed down onto the roof of the dolmen warming the great stone.

Shame that it was coralled with barbed wire, it would have been cool and peaceful among the nettles and the long grass beneath.

Folklore

Penllech Coetan Arthur
Dolmen / Quoit / Cromlech
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Nov 8, 2005

“[A]cromlech named ‘Arthur’s Quoit’ is found in Myllteyrn parish, Caernarvonshire (SH22973456). Professor Grooms (1993, pp.118-9) translates the following from Myrddin Fardd (writing in the 19th-century), which is worth repeating for its illustration of the local folkloric traditions surrounding these stones:”

A multitude of tales are told about him [Arthur]. Sometimes, he is portrayed as a king and mighty soldier, other times like a giant huge in size, and they are found the length and bredth of the land of stones, in tons in weight, and the tradition connects them with his name – a few of them have been in his shoes time after time, bothering him, and compelling him also to pull them, and to throw them some unbelievable distance... A cromlech recognized by the name ‘Coetan Arthur’ is on the land of Trefgwm, in the parish of Myllteyrn; it consists of a great stone resting on three other stones. The tradition states that ‘Arthur the Giant’ threw this coetan from Carn Fadrun, a mountain several miles from Trefgwm, and his wife took three other stones in her apron and propped them up under the coetan.

Borrowed from Thomas Green, the writer of “A Gazetteer of Arthurian Topographic Folklore” at arthuriana.co.uk/concepts/folkgazt.htm

Sites within 20km of Penllech Coetan Arthur

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