All walks › Monmouthshire and the Lower Wye
Monmouthshire and the Lower WyeTrellech and Harold’s Stones
Three leaning Bronze Age standing stones beside a village that was once the largest town in Wales and is now a hamlet.
- Distance
- 3.1 mi / 5 km
- Time
- 1 hr 45
- Ascent
- 140 m
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Shape
- Circular
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
From the stones, field paths and lanes loop through the surrounding farmland and woodland. Gentle throughout.
Worth knowing
- Trellech was bigger than Cardiff or Chepstow in the thirteenth century and then simply vanished.
- Excavations in the fields around the village keep turning up the lost town.
- The stones lean at odd angles and have done for a very long time.
What you’ll see
The three standing stones, the village church and motte, and quiet border farmland.
Background
Medieval Trellech had perhaps 3,000 inhabitants and an iron industry, and was abandoned after war, plague and the collapse of that trade.