Cist Cerrig: A reassessment of a ritual landscape
by Peter Fenn, George Nash & Laurie Waite
This monument (CRN 10, NGR SH 54336
38414), also known as Cist Ger(r)ig, is situated
at the head of the Lleyn Peninsula in one of the
major Neolithic core areas in Wales. It stands
on the lower slopes of Moel-y-Gest at 75m
AOD, close to Porthmadog and is similar
architecturally to Hendre Waelod (DEN 1),
Gwern Einion (MER 1), Bron-y-Foel-Isaf
(MER 2) and Cefn Isaf (CRN 9).
There are three distinct environments present
on the peninsula: coastal, coastal plateau and
uplands. The upland zone, which in places
exceeds 300m AOD is spread along the
western coastal fringes and along the central
spine of the peninsula. The coastal plateau lies
immediately north - east of the upland zone
and rises to around 150m AOD. The coastal
zone does not exceed 100m AOD. The
majority of the 13 Lleyn monuments are
classified as Portal Dolmens (Gwynedd
Archaeological Trust SMR; Lynch 1969, 108)
and occupy the coastal and coastal plateau
zones, appearing to encompass and visually
acknowledge but not encroach upon, the
upland zone. Cist Cerrig, located on a west
facing slopes lies at the eastern end of the
coastal plateau.
Cist Cerrig lies approximately 3km north of
the sand banks of Afon Dwyryd, Afon Glaslyn
and Tremadog Bay and these would have been
economically important to Neolithic
communities using this monument. More
importantly, the area on which Cist Cerrig
stands would probably have been an island
during the Neolithic. The monument stands
within an enclosed valley dominated by a large
exposed rock outcrop, located 0.75km to the
north which is an Iron Age enclosure located
on the summit of Moel-y-Gest. There are
remains of hut circles nearby to the north, east
and west of the site.
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The monument comprises two uprights and a
possible doorstone. The largest of these stands
2.2m above the present ground level.
Although in a ruined state, it is possible to
suggest that a rectangular chamber once
existed, based on the existing H-shaped plan of
the doorstone and associated uprights.
Alternatively, it may be a false portal of a lost
Cotswold-Severn monument, though this
seems less likely. A third possibility is that the
alleged doorstone could be an upright, which
separates a larger rectangular chamber. Lynch
(1969, 129) has suggested that the three stones
once formed a small Portal Dolmen with a
chamber to the west, facing uphill, 'since this is
a very consistent feature of tombs of this class
in North Wales', (ibid. 129). Inside the
chamber area is an extensive rubble deposit,
which may be the result of field clearance or
rubble packing. Immediately surrounding the
monument is the remains of a small, low
mound. There is no record for any excavation
at the site, the only reported finds came from
Hemp (Grimes 1951, 157) who picked up two
flint flakes from the chamber area.
Cist Cerrig is one of several megalithic
monuments in Wales associated with
cupmarks, in this case a series of 12 are
arranged in a vertical line with an additional 3
outliers (Figure 1). These do not occur on the
monument itself, but on a natural rock surface
26m to the south-east (Hemp 1938, 141). Ten
were first discovered by a Mr C.C. Lloyd-
James and subsequently five more were
located below the existing ground level by Mr
Colin Gresham. Hemp's plan of the panel
(ibid. 141) appears to show a total of at least
sixteen. A site visit by members of the Clifton
Antiquarian Club in November 2007
discovered a further two cupmarks located
172m west of the monument at NGR SH
54162 38434. A similar setting has been

Figure 1 Drawing of cup marks (After Hemp 1938)
recently recorded at the passage grave of Bryn
Celli Ddu in Anglesey where up to 28
cupmarks were found on a rock outcrop, some
150m north of the monument. The presence
of these additional cupmarks at Cist Cerrig
may suggest that they form a much larger
ritual area around the monument than at first
thought and hints that further discoveries in
the vicinity are possible; thus extending a ritual
monument into a ritual landscape.
Approximately 3km further west and not quite
intervisible with Cist Cerrig is the Cae-Dyni
monument (CRN 14) which also features
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cupmarks; however, these are located on two
faces of a chamber upright stone (see Nash,
George & Waite, this volume).
This latest cupmark discovery, by members
Peter Fenn and Steve Tofts, is on a rock
outcrop panel measuring around 2m x 1.2m
and partially covered by moss and lichen. The
panel appears to extend underneath a drystone
boundary wall, orientated NE-SW. The
geology on which the cupmarks are carved
comprises a laminated Palaeozoic slatey-shale
forming part of a 5 degree slope, facing north.
Although only two cupmarks were recorded, it
is highly probable that others exist below the
shallow soil horizon. The two cupmarks, each
measuring around 7 cm in diameter may form
part of a much larger pattern, similar in
composition to the 15 located south-east of the
Cist Cerrig monument. If this is the case, both
sets of cupmarks could be contemporary with
the burial monument (Fig 2). Based on other
monuments within North Wales that have
cupmarks either on or close by the monument,
the answer is probably yes. A further member
of the team, Ann Smith, found another
possible set of cupmarks close by.
The meaning of cupmarks and their clear
associations both in and around monuments is
as yet unclear, but patterns are emerging with
each new find. At Cae-Dyni and Bryn Celli
Ddu several groups of cupmarks forming an
arc or crescent configuration were recognised,
while the vertical formation of 15 at Cist
Cerrig have a very distinctive snake-like
pattern which is accentuated by the 3 outlying
cupmarks all situated on the western side;
antiquarians would have probably described
this set of cupmarks as serpentine in
appearance. There are indeed numerous
theories for what cupmarks may represent.
The significance of these finds is their direct
affiliation to chambered monuments and in a
deliberate composition; a meaning is therefore
ascribed to the landscape beyond the
monument itself. It may have embodied a
theatre for ritual activity, utilised as a place of
Figure 2 Cist Cerrig monument with cup-marked rock outcropping. (Photo: G. Nash)

performance in which cupmarked panels
played an integral part in storytelling or burial
ceremonies.
It should be noted that members of the Clifton
Antiquarian Club field team were mainly
concerned with the monument and that
further fieldwork is required in order to
understand the extent of this now relatively
common phenomenon.

References
Cummings, V. & Whittle, A. 2004. Places of Special Virtue: Megaliths in the Neolithic Landscape of
Wales. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Daniel, G. 1950. The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales. Cambridge University Press
Grimes, W.F. 1951. The Prehistory of Wales. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Hemp, W.J. 1938. Cup Markings at Treflys, Caernarvonshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol XCIII.
Lynch, F.M. 1969. The Megalithic Tombs of North Wales. In T.G.E Powell, J.X.W.P. Corcoran,
F. Lynch and J.G. Scott (eds.), Megalithic Enquiries in the West of Britain. Liverpool University
Press.
Nash, G.H. 2006. The Architecture of Death: The Neolithic Chambered Tombs in Wales. Logaston
Press, Herefordshire.

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