Tinkinswood Burial Chamber
Tinkinswood Burial chamber, South Wales
Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in the Neolithic period? It can be hard for us to get our head around what life was like 6000 years ago. Of course, our man-made goods of the 21st century would be unimaginable to the people of the New Stone Age but they were revolutionary in their own time too.
These are the people who introduced farming and settlements to Britain. Life changed from a hunter-gatherer nomadic lifestyle to one of finding a place you liked, putting down roots and making it habitable for your family and, hopefully, the next generation.
Part of this new lifestyle was building burial chambers to honour the ancestors. Well, I say that, but that is just a modern view of what they were doing - we have no written evidence from this time so all we can say for certain is that they built stone chambers and buried people in them. Sometimes complete skeletons have been found in these chambers; sometimes it is a collection of bones, perhaps in an urn.
Photo of the information board on site by Cadw
What is certain is that it must have taken an enormous amount of labour to create these structures. Tinkinswood burial chamber has the largest capstone in Wales and one of the largest in the UK and I can’t imagine how they managed to raise it on top of the pillar stones. It is believed that the stones were quarried nearby but still it would have been a task involving a large community.
It is one of a style of burial chamber known as Severn-Cotswold because they are particularly prevalent in that area. Tinkinswood is in south Wales and although over the border from England now, it really isn’t too far away from one of the best examples of that type of chamber - Belas Knapp in Gloucestershire (pictures below). They are characterised by their long, tapering shape with curved walls at the broad end, forming an impressive entranceway. Except it often isn’t the entrance - it’s a false entrance, with the real one tucked away at the side. Perhaps they were worried about grave robbers right from the start. In the top photo below you can see one of the real entrances to the chamber in the picture below that. The final picture is the false entrance of Belas Knapp which you can see is very similar to the one at Tinkinswood.
According to the Cadw on-site information board, the remains of 50 people were found inside - men, women and children. Seemingly, the bones were periodically removed, presumably for a ritual. As we see the monument today, the huge capstone is bare rock, open to the elements. But archeologists believe that these monuments were covered over with soil and grass. Or perhaps not… perhaps that just happened later. Some people believe that our ancestors initially placed the dead out in the open to allow excarnation to take place. The Tibetan Sky Burial is a sacred tradition which continues today so it is not unreasonable to suggest that it might have taken place here too during the Neolithic period.
Whatever ceremonies took place at these sites, it is reasonable to assume that the sites were the ancient equivalent of a church with attendant graveyard. It was a place for communities and families to gather together and honour the passing of those they loved and respected. At the time of writing, we are approaching the winter solstice when many people will gather at ancient monuments such as Stonehenge (Wiltshire) to witness the solar alignments. Another famous site with a winter solstice solar alignment is Newgrange in Ireland (https://www.newgrange.com)
Tinkinswood Burial Chamber, South Wales
Tinkinswood is cared for by Cadw and is free to enter and open all the time. Parking is in a small lay-by at the side of the road with space for a couple of cars. There is then a walk across a couple of fields - the first one was pretty muddy.
The Journal of Antiquities gives more information and several resources.
For more images and thoughts you could also visit The Modern Antiquarian