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<< Our Photo Pages >> Bryn-yr-Ellyllon - Round Barrow(s) in Wales in Flintshire

Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 October 2013  Page Views: 12565

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Bryn-yr-Ellyllon Alternative Name: Findspot of Mold Gold Cape, Hill of Elves
Country: Wales County: Flintshire Type: Round Barrow(s)
Nearest Town: Mold
Map Ref: SJ2434063930
Latitude: 53.167088N  Longitude: 3.133213W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
Destroyed Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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British Museum
British Museum submitted by h_fenton : The Mold Cape (Bronze Age), in the British Museum. The Mold Gold Cape found by workmen quarrying for stone in a burial mound in Mold, Flintshire, North Wales in 1833. In the centre of the mound there was a stone lined cist containing an inhumation burial and the cape was found on the shoulders of the skeleton, pieces of sheet bronze were also recovered which may have formed a backing to the g... (Vote or comment on this photo)
The Mold Gold Cape was discovered by labourers in pieces at Bryn yr Ellyllon ('Hill of Elves') just off Chester Road, Mold in 1833 along with the bones of a man and some amber beads. Only one amber bead survives out of the 'quantities' found with the cape, the rest are thought to have gone home in the labourers' pockets.

Missing fragments of the cape have turned up over the years, the last fragment was found only 10 years ago.

The entire cape was found crushed and broken and was repaired using reinvented technology to replace the missing 15% of the metal by Conservator Ian Macintrye. It is dated between 1900 and 1600BC.

It is made from the equivalent of 23-carat gold, weighs one kilogram and was created from one ingot of gold and decorates with ribs and bosses giving the impression of folded cloth.. It is believed to have been a garment worn for religious ceremonies, although this can only be guessed at. We know that it was not just used as a burial offering as it showed signs of repair. It would have fitted over the shoulders, upper arms and body of its wearer, who would have had to have had assistance in putting on the cape and once on would have had severely restricted arm movement.

While the original Cape resides in the British Museum, a replica can be seen in the heritage centre situated above Mold library (see nearby sites list below). A stone tablet in the wall of a nearby house on Chester Road marks the spot where the cape was found.

The priceless Bronze Age gold cape discovered in Mold forms the centrepiece of an exhibition that has recently opened at the British Museum in London. The cape is the focal point of a permanent display titled 'Prehistory: Objects of Power' .

The Cape is described by the British Museum as 'one of the finest examples of sheet metal gold work from the Bronze Age'.

More at the Mold Community Web site (archive link)

Note: New finds at the site of the Mold gold cape and listen to Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's new song about the discovery of the cape
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SJ2463 : Tesco, Mold by Alex McGregor
by Alex McGregor
©2014(licence)
SJ2463 : Bench mark by Mold cemetery #1 by John S Turner
by John S Turner
©2016(licence)
SJ2463 : The north east corner of Mold cemetery by John S Turner
by John S Turner
©2016(licence)
SJ2463 : The north east side of Mold cemetery by John S Turner
by John S Turner
©2016(licence)
SJ2463 : The Queens Head Inn, Chester Road, Mold by Maggie Cox
by Maggie Cox
©2014(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 639m W 266° Mold Library and Museum* Museum (SJ237639)
 755m WNW 291° Standing Stone St Mary's Church* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ2363864213)
 951m WNW 300° Mold Gorsedd Circle Modern Stone Circle etc (SJ2352364421)
 2.1km WNW 299° Rhual Isaf* Round Barrow(s) (SJ22546496)
 2.2km WNW 289° Goblins Well Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ22256469)
 4.3km WSW 251° Carreg Carn March Arthur Marker Stone (SJ202626)
 5.6km S 174° Carreg-y-Llech* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ24875835)
 5.7km SW 232° Big Covert Cave or Rock Shelter (SJ19796055)
 5.8km S 178° Bryntirion Round Barrows* Round Barrow(s) (SJ2445058160)
 6.0km NNW 327° Moel-y-Gaer (Flintshire)* Hillfort (SJ21116904)
 6.1km NNW 327° Moel-y-Gaer Circle Timber Circle (SJ211691)
 6.1km S 180° Pen Y Stryt Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SJ2423057830)
 6.5km SW 224° Lynx Cave Cave or Rock Shelter (SJ19765931)
 6.5km S 182° Pentre Round Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SJ2401057440)
 6.6km NW 311° Hendre Farm Round Barrow(s) (SJ19426838)
 6.8km WNW 302° Ffynnon Leinw Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ18636767)
 7.6km NW 306° Pen-Y-Gelli* Round Barrow(s) (SJ18316851)
 7.7km SE 131° Park in the Past* Museum (SJ301588)
 8.2km WNW 298° Penbedw Park* Stone Circle (SJ17126793)
 8.5km WNW 296° Penbedw Park Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SJ168678)
 8.5km WNW 299° Penbedw Park Tumulus* Round Barrow(s) (SJ17006819)
 8.6km SE 129° Hope Church Early Medieval Stones* Ancient Cross (SJ310584)
 8.7km WSW 251° Coed Clwyd Cairns* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SJ16026127)
 8.8km WSW 253° Bwlch Penbarra Marker Stone (SJ1584661500)
 8.9km WSW 243° Foel Fenlli* Hillfort (SJ1632060080)
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"Bryn-yr-Ellyllon" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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1833 find-spot of the incredible Mold Gold Cape, by Andy B on Sunday, 05 June 2022
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Helsbels writes: While in Mold, N Wales I went looking for the 1833 find-spot of the incredible Bronze Age Mold Gold Cape, currently on display in World of Stonehenge, and found it, marked by a garden wall plaque on the brow of a hill

https://twitter.com/Helenus_/status/1530277118764097537

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/410276/ #archaeology

While in Mold, N Wales today I went looking for the 1833 find-spot of the incredible #BronzeAge Mold Gold Cape, currently on display in #WorldofStonehenge @britishmuseum, and found it, marked by a garden wall plaque on the brow of a hill https://t.co/TDmPL4l45q #archaeology pic.twitter.com/TmGg8d25qk

— Helsbels (@Helenus_) May 27, 2022


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Archaeological Oddities - the Mold gold cape by Andy B on Friday, 10 July 2020
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Archaeological Oddities - the Mold gold cape
https://prehistories.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/archaeological-oddities-the-mold-cape/

Old Mold Gold: Back in the Fold, the Story Told and a Postcard Sold
https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/old-mold-gold-back-in-the-fold-the-story-told-and-a-postcard-sold/

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Report on the excavation of a Bronze Age barrow at Llong near Mold by Andy B on Friday, 20 February 2015
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It was hoped that this barrow might be equally rewarding as the 'Golden Barrow' at Mold which had in the last century produced the gold cape, but since its position was
unusually close to the river, it was decided that the first season's work should be
limited to a single trial trench to confirm the nature of the mound. This was done
in 1954, and in 1955 more extensive work was done in the SE quadrant where an
assymetrically-placed primary inhumation was found beneath a small cairn. In the
cairn, but not directly associated with the body, was a necklace of tiny jet beads
and some parcels of cremated bone. Two or three secondary cremations had been
found elsewhere in the mound, two in 1954. In 1956 work was limited to confirming
features of the barrow structure.

The barrow lies close to the village of Llong where the river Alyn flows through
a wide, flat valley with gentle wooded slopes on either side. It is only some 50
metres from the river itself, the lowest of a group of valley-bottom barrows which
are to be found in this neighbourhood, contrasting with the more usual hilltop
siting of such monuments.

More at
http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1218518/llgc-id:1218996/llgc-id:1219012/getText
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The Mold Gold Cape on A History of the World in 100 objects by Andy B on Sunday, 06 October 2013
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The Mold Gold Cape on A History of the World in 100 objects

In 1833 a group of workmen were looking for stones in a field near the village of Mold in North Wales when they unearthed a burial site with a skeleton covered by a crushed sheet of pure gold. Neil tells the story of what has become known at the British Museum as the Mold Gold Cape and tries to envisage the society that made it. Nothing like the contemporary courts of the pharaohs of Egypt and the palaces of the Minoans in Crete seem to have existed in Britain at that time, but he imagines a people with surprisingly sophisticated skills and social structures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qg5mh
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Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's song about the Mold Gold Cape by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Hollywood star Steve Martin has played the banjo for a track about the historic Mold Gold Cape. Teaming up with fellow Texan, singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, the song King of Boys features on their new album Love Has Come For You. The opening lyric to the song is ‘On a hill in Mold, North Wales’, with several other references to Mold made in the remainder of the track.

Listen to their album, and lots more music in our forum: Obscure Music featuring prehistoric sites - this one is at the bottom of the page:

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=5154&forum=2&start=40
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Site of Mold gold cape's 'exciting' new finds by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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'Exciting' new finds which could be older than the gold cape found on the site. An archaeological dig on the site where a priceless Bronze Age gold cape was found has unearthed new finds.

It had been thought nothing was left at the site at Mold, Flintshire after it was last excavated in 1953. But a community dig led by archaeologists has now turned up tiny burned fragments of bone and small pieces of pottery.

They could turn out to be older than the Mold Gold Cape which was made 3,700 years ago from a single sheet of gold. The cape, which was discovered in 1833, is one of the British Museum's most prized artefacts and it has been on show at Cardiff and Wrexham this summer.

It was found with a skeleton in a burial site.

The latest discovery could mean the site had some significance further back than many expected, according to archaeologist Mark Lodwick, who is finds co-ordinator for Wales for the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

More at BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-24179680
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Leaflet about the Mold Gold cape by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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A detailed leaflet about the Mold Gold cape from Wrexham Museum

http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/museum/treasures/moldcape_e.pdf (PDF)
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Twenty­ one facts about the Mold Gold Cape by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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1. The Mold Cape was found close to the Chester road in Mold, Flintshire, on 11th October 1833
2. The cape was found in a stone­lined grave beneath a pile of stones by a group of workmen employed to fill a ditch by levelling a nearby mound.
3. The labourers found the cape wrapped around the remains of a skeleton and attached to the remains of some fabric, as well as hundreds of amber beads.
4. The cape is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet ­gold working ever discovered in Europe
5. The cape is between 3,600 to 3,900 years old, dating it to the Early Bronze Age.
6. The cape was made approximately 300–400 years after Brymbo Man was buried with his beaker on the hillside above Brymbo overlooking the Moss and Alyn valleys and the Cheshire plain.
7. The British Museum acquired the three biggest pieces of the cape in 1836. More fragments were donated between 1852 and 1972.
8. Experts originally thought the cape was a corselet – a kind of breast plate worn under the arms. Later, they thought it might have been a peytrel – a decorative piece of horse furniture.
9. Professor Powell of Liverpool University was the archaeologist who proved the gold artefact from Mold was worn over the shoulders, not under the arms.
10.The Mold Cape is one of several Bronze Age (2300 – 800 BC) finds discovered locally: the Caergwrle Bowl, the Lady of Llong necklace, the Burton and Rossett Hoards and the Ysgeifiog Torc.
11.The cape was made from a gold ingot the size of a ping pong ball.
12.The cape was not unique, but no other complete object of similar shape, size or elaborate decoration has survived from prehistoric times.
13.The objects (the amber beads and the fragment of a small knife) found with the cape suggest it was worn by a woman, rather than a man.
14.The cape was a ceremonial garment, probably worn by a woman who had high status in her community.
15.There was an established gold working tradition in Bronze Age Britain with finds such as the Ringlemere Cup, Kent; the Lockington armlets, Leicestershire, and the Mold Cape and Caergwrle Bowl, the Alyn Valley.
16.The decoration on the cape is designed to represent beads. Necklaces made from amber and jet beads were popular in the early Bronze Age. One such necklace was found in a barrow south­east of Mold near the hamlet of Llong.
17.The Alyn Valley is a hotspot for Bronze Age (2300 – 800 BC) activity. Archaeologists know of around a dozen Bronze Age sites in the vicinity of Mold.
18.North­east Wales was at the centre of a busy trade route during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods (4,300 – 800 BC), with stone axes and flints, later copper, gold, jet and amber all passing through this
region.
19.The practice of making ceremonial capes may have been peculiar to Bronze Age communities in north­east Wales. Perhaps it was the luxury high status version of the clothes worn in the area or may be it was the consequence of having a gold source nearby?
20.The gold in the Mold Cape contains a high amount of naturally occurring silver. In the future, it may be possible to locate the source of the gold in the cape from its chemical composition.
21.The cape has been the highlight of special exhibitions around the country and abroad: Cardiff (three times), Wrexham (twice), Edinburgh, Venice and Tournai (Belgium).

Source: Wrexham Museum
http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/news/21_facts_about_the_cape.pdf (PDF)
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