Carreg Leidr

Carreg Leidr Standing Stone SH446843 Visited Saturday 23rd September 2000 SWW Mynydd Bodafon. I first attempted to visit this stone in June 1999, but despite ¼ hour searching, with assistance of a 1:50000 map, I could not find it. Returning in late September 2000 with autumn beginning to bite well, the hedges and foliage were considerably less obfuscating than at the height of summer. To find it, I highly recommend using a 1:25000 map (Explorer 263); just up the road from Clorach-Bach, the menhir is behind a hedge and fence, up a steep embankment. The first kink in the road heading northwest is when to look right; the stone should be visible peeking through the undergrowth, overlooking the road. The fence around the field, at the time of visiting, was incomplete in places, giving easy access, despite the very steep embankment. The style of the stone reminded me very much of some at Stanton Drew, and its red colour brought to mind the lovely ochre of the Knap Down standing stone in Devon. Page 21 of Rumours and Oddities from North Wales by Meirion Hughes and Wayne Evans, speaks of folklore concerning this stone. Two of the islands saints would meet near here; on one occasion, a man stole a Bible from a local church and given the holy location, he was turned into stone. Furthermore, the stone is alleged to leap from the ground and run thrice around the field at midnight on Christmas Eve.