Paper short abstract:

An examination of the changing perceptions of chambered tombs in Anglesey, North Wales, from the seventeenth century to today. Their misinterpretation as druidic relics, and their 'adoption' as symbols of patriotism and cultural legitimacy during the early Celtic Revival, add depth to their 'life-histories' and lead us to question the significance of these monuments in the contemporary landscape.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine the 'life-histories' of megalithic burial chambers in southern Anglesey, and explore the ways in which biographies of these monuments have been created and modified over the last 300 years. Throughout the later post-medieval period, the symbolic meanings of these monuments shifted to reflect different cultural paradigms and to justify contemporary socio-political agendas. The manipulation and symbolic 'claiming' of the past, as embodied by these ancient megaliths, was closely linked with attempts to formulate a Welsh national identity. Moreover, the incorporation of these monuments into the landscape gardens of country estates in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was indicative of the extent to which they captured the contemporary imagination. No longer seen as crude and primitive in a pejorative sense, as reminders of the power of time and the fragility of human endeavour, the 'cromlech' epitomised the picturesque aesthetic. Meanwhile, in rural communities, megaliths were viewed with varying degrees of superstitious fear and pragmatism, ultimately leading to their widespread destruction and incorporation into walls and boundaries across the island.

Whether interpreted as burial chambers, sacrificial altars or druidic dungeons, these monuments were perceived to be inhabited by the image of a mythical ancestral figure, a key concept in the 'Welsh Renaissance'. This idea endured in the popular imagination, even as archaeological advances showed that the chambered tombs are, at least temporally, much farther removed from contemporary Welsh society. This leads us to question what function these sites perform in cultural heritage and identity today.