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Roads and Trackways of North Wales

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Maen Colman Stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in Wales in Pembrokeshire

Submitted by Nesyor on Friday, 30 June 2023  Page Views: 6036

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Maen Colman Stone Alternative Name: Capel Colman 1, Maen Golman, Colman's stone
Country: Wales
NOTE: This site is 2.587 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Pembrokeshire Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)

Map Ref: SN21633824  Landranger Map Number: 145
Latitude: 52.013843N  Longitude: 4.600584W
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
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 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
5

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Nesyor visited on 19th Jun 2023 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 3 The Maen Colman, Colman's stone, is situated at Capel Colman near Boncath on a public footpath passing through Glanpwlldu farm. The nearby church is dedicated to St Colman, one of several Irish St Colmans of the 6th or 7th century. This church was rebuilt and restored in the 1800s after falling into disrepair twice previously. The mediaeval church was slightly to the south of the current building. Cropmarks show two circles centred on the original church, which may have marked the boundary of consecrated ground for the original church site. Maen Colman is close to one of these circles. Local tradition claims the stone was originally a prehistoric menhir, a single standing stone, decorated with Christian symbols in the 6th century AD and placed over the grave of St Colman. Supposedly the stone was removed from the churchyard by a local farmer who wanted to use it as a gatepost It seems unlikely: the stone is hardly tall enough to make a reasonable gatepost, and there is no sign of holes for hinges or catches The carving on the front of the stone is a combination of two ancient Christian symbols. The circle with a four-armed cross is the Celtic or sun cross, which predates Christianity. This is combined with the Chi-Rho symbol, where the Greek letters P and X represent the first two letters of the name of Christ, the down stroke of the P forming the upright of the Celtic cross. The transverse arm of the cross is just about visible across the centre. The back of the stone is difficult to see, being very overgrown. It was impossible to get a usable photograph. The rough sketch is based on scrappy shots and sketches. The proportions are not quite perfect but it is a reasonable copy of the image on the back of the stone; a simple depiction of the crucifixion of Christ. The upper part shows Christ on the cross. The lower part of the image shows two people, one on either side of the cross. This is a very traditional depiction, the figures represent Mary and St John. This particular style began to appear in the later 8th century There is a crack in the stone across the centre of the image.. It seems unlikely that the two images were made by the same person. The person who created the imagery on the front had some skills as a stone-mason, the pattern on the back is merely simple lines incised into the stone. This carving may have been added much later than the original design. The use of the pointed arch, as shown above the crucifix, began in the British Isles towards the end of the 12th century.

SumDoood visited on 8th Aug 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Ambience rated at 4 just because so much prehistory is to be found in the area.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.5 Ambience: 4 Access: 4

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by Nesyor : Image of carving outlined in black (Vote or comment on this photo)
A large irregular boulder of dolerite standing on the west side of the lane leading to Glanpwlldu, some 180m south of St Colman's Church, Pembrokeshire. It is carved with crosses of various styles on three faces.

Nesyor writes: The Maen Colman, or Colman's stone, is situated at Capel Colman near Boncath on a public footpath passing through Glanpwlldu farm. St Colman was one of several Irish St Colmans of the 6th or 7th century. The church was rebuilt and restored in the 1800s after falling into disrepair twice previously. The mediaeval church was slightly to the south of the current building. Cropmarks show two circles centred on the original church, which may have marked the boundary of consecrated ground for the original church site. Maen Colman is close to one of these circles.

Local tradition claims the stone was originally a prehistoric menhir, a single standing stone, decorated with Christian symbols in the 6th century AD and placed over the grave of St Colman. Supposedly the stone was removed from the churchyard by a local farmer who wanted to use it as a gatepost It seems unlikely: the stone is hardly tall enough to make a reasonable gatepost, and there is no sign of holes for hinges or catches The carving on the front of the stone is a combination of two ancient Christian symbols. The circle with a four-armed cross is the Celtic or sun cross, which predates Christianity. This is combined with the Chi-Rho symbol, where the Greek letters P and X represent the first two letters of the name of Christ, the down stroke of the P forming the upright of the Celtic cross. The transverse arm of the cross is just about visible across the centre. The back of the stone is difficult to see, being very overgrown.

Click/tap on Visit Logs above to read the remainder of Nesyor‘s detailed description and thoughts

Information from Coflein: Measurements are given as 135cm height x 46<63.5cm width x 53cm diameter. Face A is carved with a compass-drawn cross-of-arcs within a double circular frame. It is carved in false relief delineated by broad, quite deeply punched, incised lines. Face C has a deeply incised linear Latin cross, whose upper cross-arm terminates in a triangular shape, while the horizontal cross-arms have vertical cross-bars. Both are thought to date to the later 7th or 8th century. Face D has a very lightly incised linear Latin cross, which is thought to be graffiti of later and uncertain date. It may be in situ and is close to a curvilinear cropmark possibly defining a former curvilinear church boundary and demarcating ecclesiastical land.

Source: Coflein site no. 304097.

Page originally by Vicky

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Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by Sunny100 : Illustrations [by Chris Barber]of the Maen Colman Stone at Capel Colman near Boncath. It was a prehistoric stone that was Christianized in the 6th century CE and placed over the grave of St Colman (d 610) bishop of Dromore, Co. Down, Ireland. On the front side an equal-armed radiating cross within a circle, while the reverse side has a thin cross with a triangle at the top, perhaps representi... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by Nesyor : Sketch of the image on the rear of the stone. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by Nesyor : A frontal view of the stone (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by SumDoood : At the side of the public right of way. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by SumDoood : The odd little church is only one field's length away - perhaps its users were worried by the standing stone.

Maen Colman Stone
Maen Colman Stone submitted by SumDoood : There are viciously stinging nettles in the hedge behind the stone.

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