Sweyne's Howes
The Sweyne's Howes North and South (also called Sweyne's How, Swain Houses or Sweye's Houses) are two portal tombs 100 m apart in the Rhossili Down, south of Llangennith on the west side of the Gower Peninsula in West Glamorgan in Wales . In the British Isles, portal tombs are megalithic systems in which two equally high, upright stones with a door stone in between form the front of a chamber, which is covered with a sometimes huge capstone.
The name Sweyne's Howes derives from a local legend that says that a Viking named Sweyne is buried here . Howe is the Old Norse word for hill.
To the east of Rhosili Down are two deranged portal tombs from the Neolithic Age .
Sweyne's Howes North
51 ° 35 ′ 9 ″ N, 4 ° 16 ′ 50 ″ W
The northern chamber stands at the western end of an ovalcairnthat measures approximately 18.0 × 13.0 m. The chamber opens to the north. It has two large portal stones and a slipped end stone. The capstone is still leaning against the portal stones.
Sweyne's Howes South
51 ° 35 ′ 5 ″ N, 4 ° 16 ′ 55 ″ W
The cairn of the southernmegalithiccomplex measures around 21 × 15 m, the chamber stones are on the ground.
See also
Nearby are the Ring Cairns of Rhossili Down.
literature
- Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan: I - Part 1: Pre-Norman Monuments - The stone and bronze ages. HMSO, Cardiff 1976, ISBN 0-11-700590-8 , pp. 31-32
Web links
Map with all coordinates: