Stones of Wales - Maen Llia standing stone

Maen Llia

Standing Stone
Brecknock, Powys
Nearest town: Brecon Nearest village: Ystradfellte Map reference: SN 924192

Nearly 4m high, this impressive standing stone lies at the junction of two valleys, probably marking an ancient trackway

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A short distance from the minor road leading from Ystradfellte to Heol Senni, the massive monolith of Maen Llia stands on the moorland in a magnificent and isolated spot in the Brecon Beacon National Park. It is a large diamond-shaped slab of conglomerate, 3.7m (12ft) high and 2.8m (9ft) wide and only 0.6m (2ft) thick. It is likely that a quarter to a third of the stone is below ground, so it has managed to stand up to thousands of years of wild Welsh weather.
It lies at the junction of two valleys and its visibility from some distance suggests that it could possibly be a territorial marker or it could mark an ancient trackway, guiding travellers across the watershed, in a way similar to the stone north of Maen Mawr circle. In the Forties, some faint Latin and Ogam inscriptions were still visible on the stone's surface.
A legend says that whenever a cock crows, the stone moves off to drink in the River Nedd. According to another story, the stone visits the River Mellte on Midsummer morning.

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