At a glance
Bodowyr Burial Chamber (LL60 6NG) — a small, well-preserved Neolithic portal dolmen near Llangaffo, central Anglesey, c.3500 BC. Free Cadw site. Short field path from road. Combine with Bryn Celli Ddu (3 miles). Car recommended. Open at all times.
About Bodowyr Burial Chamber
Bodowyr Burial Chamber stands in agricultural land in central Anglesey — a compact Neolithic portal dolmen of three upright stones supporting a capstone, dating to approximately 3500 BC. It is the simplest form of megalithic monument: a small chamber built from large stones and originally covered by an earthen mound (now mostly eroded), used as a communal burial place by the Neolithic farming community that occupied this fertile island. Unlike the more celebrated Bryn Celli Ddu passage tomb (3 miles north-east), Bodowyr is little-known and rarely visited — many Anglesey visitors pass within miles without realising it exists.
That obscurity is part of its appeal. The dolmen stands in a quiet field with no other visitors, no information boards (Cadw provides online information), and no facilities — only the stones, the sky, and the knowledge that people carried these megaliths and arranged them deliberately over 5,500 years ago. The entrance faces south-east, possibly toward the rising sun at a significant time of year, though the astronomical evidence at Bodowyr is less clear than at Bryn Celli Ddu. The site is in good condition for a field dolmen — the capstone in place, the uprights stable — and gives a genuine sense of encountering the prehistoric past without interpretation or infrastructure.
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Frequently asked questions
Bodowyr Burial Chamber is a small Neolithic portal dolmen near Llangaffo in central Anglesey, dating to approximately 3500 BC. It consists of three upright stones supporting a roughly triangular capstone, with a low entrance facing south-east — a typical portal dolmen configuration found across western Britain and Ireland. The monument is smaller and more compact than the massive Lligwy burial chamber to the north, or the Barclodiad y Gawres passage tomb to the west, but it is in good condition and well-preserved. It is managed by Cadw as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, accessible free at all times via a short field path.
Bodowyr is reached by a short field path from the minor road near Llangaffo in central Anglesey (postcode LL60 6NG for the general area). The site is in open farmland — the path can be muddy after rain. There is limited roadside parking near the track entrance. A car is the most practical way to visit as public transport does not serve this rural location directly. The nearest town with bus services is Llangefni (approximately 5 miles). The monument is worth combining with the more famous Bryn Celli Ddu passage tomb approximately 3 miles to the north-east — both are free Cadw sites and represent different traditions of Neolithic monument building on Anglesey.
Anglesey has an exceptional concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments for its size — a reflection of the island's fertile soils and its position on the Irish Sea prehistoric trade routes. Bodowyr is a portal dolmen — the simplest and arguably oldest type of megalithic tomb, in which a capstone is supported by upright stones over a small chamber. This contrasts with Bryn Celli Ddu (a passage tomb with a long stone-lined corridor), Barclodiad y Gawres (a passage tomb with decorated stones), and Lligwy (a portal dolmen but on a far larger scale). Together these monuments show the diversity of funerary architecture practiced on Anglesey over the Neolithic period (c.4000–2500 BC). For visitors interested in prehistoric Anglesey, a circuit of these sites — combined with the Oriel Ynys Môn museum in Llangefni, which displays Anglesey archaeological finds — gives a comprehensive picture.
Neolithic portal dolmens like Bodowyr were communal burial monuments — the chamber was used to inter multiple individuals over extended periods rather than for single burials. The bones were often partially disarticulated, suggesting that the dead were moved or rearranged within the chamber over time. These monuments were not simply graves — they served as focal points for the community's relationship with its ancestors, places for ritual activity, territorial markers, and expressions of the social organisation of Neolithic farming communities. The considerable effort required to move and position large capstones indicates the monuments had significant communal importance. The south-east facing entrance of Bodowyr may have been intentional — an orientation towards the rising midwinter or midsummer sun, though this is not as clearly documented as at Bryn Celli Ddu.
Central Anglesey contains several Neolithic and Bronze Age sites within a small area. Bryn Celli Ddu (3 miles north-east) is the most famous — a passage tomb with a midsummer sunrise alignment, accessible via a 0.5-mile walk from a car park on the A4080. Plas Newydd (National Trust, 5 miles south) was built near an early Bronze Age standing stone still visible on the estate. The island has over 30 known megalithic monuments in various states of preservation, and the Oriel Ynys Môn museum in Llangefni gives the best overview of Anglesey's prehistoric and historic heritage, including artefacts from many of the island's excavated sites. Cadw's website provides information on all the managed prehistoric sites on Anglesey.