Bryn Celli Ddu
Photo via Wikimedia Commons — licence & author.
5,000-year-old passage tomb
This is a quick reference, not a full walked guide. The facts below — location, parking, grid reference and access — are maintained from our dataset, but we haven't published our own first-hand write-up of Bryn Celli Ddu yet. Know it well? Help us get it right.
Anglesey's showpiece Neolithic monument — a passage tomb some 5,000 years old whose name means the 'mound in the dark grove'. You can stoop along the stone passage into the central chamber, which is aligned so the midsummer solstice sunrise shines straight down it to light the back wall. A cast of a mysterious carved 'pattern stone' stands behind the mound. It's free and open; bring a torch for the chamber, and expect company on solstice mornings but quiet the rest of the year.
Getting there
Bryn Celli Ddu is in Anglesey, Anglesey (Ynys Môn). It's roughly 12 min (3.2 miles) from Menai Bridge , and within reach of Bangor (16 min) and Caernarfon (17 min).
The nearest parking: Small free Cadw car park on the lane, then a 10-min fenced path. Grid reference SH 509 703 — works on any OS map and doesn't need a phone signal.
Good to know
Bring a torch for the chamber. Solstice mornings draw a crowd; otherwise usually quiet.
🌟 Best time: Solstice sunrise lights the tomb passage — around June–June.
On the map
View Bryn Celli Ddu on OpenStreetMap ↗, or open it in the Explore Wales trip planner to add it to a day out with drive times and offline maps.
Staying over?
Menai Bridge makes a relaxed base for exploring the area — worth staying over to catch an early start or a golden-hour finish.
Browse places to stay near Menai Bridge ↗ opens Booking.com — needs signalNearby places
Make Bryn Celli Ddu part of a day out
Add it to a trip in the free Explore Wales planner — chained drive times, weather, campsite suggestions, and offline maps for when the signal drops.