Llety'r Filiast

Chambered Tomb - Gwynedd

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  Llety'r Filiast, "The Lair of the Greyhound Bitch" is a much ruined chambered tomb situated high up on the Great Orme overlooking Llandudno. 

The covering cairn has been extensively robbed away and much of what apparently remains is a natural hillock. When the cairn was intact, is thought to have measured about 30m x 10m and seems to have been vaguely egg shaped. The chamber stands at the SE end of the cairn remains and comprises several orthostats of equal height, and a broken capstone. 

Originally the capstone probably measured about 2.5m square, but only three pieces remain today, one still in place on the surviving orthostats, one lying on the chamber floor, and one propped against the northern side slabs. There are four surviving orthostats including a very large slab at the SW, at least two are missing in an E-SE arc. Today the remaining orthostats have a polygonal plan, but at least one of the stones is suspected of being repositioned, and the original chamber shape is thought to have been more rectangular. 

There is some dispute as to whether the chamber had an entrance, or was a closed box. If the entrance did exist it is thought to have been at the SE, making the stone standing at the far left of the above photo a likely candidate for the western portal.

Although an exact classification of Llety'r Filiast has not been made, it is thought to be related to the Portal Dolmen group of monuments.