The Druid's Circle

In May I visited one of the real places I used in my historical fantasy novel The Silver Wheel. The Druid's Circle is situated on on a hillside in North Wales high above the Irish Sea and dates to almost 5,000 years ago. There were no druids around then so the name is obviously recent. We also have no idea of the purpose of the circle, but it was presumably an important religious site since there are three ancient trackways leading to the area. 

To reach the Druid's Circle is a three mile hike, and much of the trail is very steep. It's also not terribly well-marked. I had to stop and ask directions three times along the way. Fortunately, despite its relative remoteness, the site is well-known. 

 

When I arrived at the circle, there was no one there except a few sheep and some very shaggy, wild Welsh ponies. 

 

 

When the site was excavated in 1957, they discovered a stone-lined chamber in the center of the circle, called a cist. The cist contained an urn holding the cremated remains of a child. A nearby pit contained another urn, also with the cremated remains of a child. It's possible the children were sacrificed. Or they might have died naturally and been buried there because of the sacred nature of the site.

The setting of the circle is spectacular, on a high ridge with a view of the sea in the distance.

And the wild Welsh hills all around.

When I was writing The Silver Wheel, I needed a real location in Wales where my heroine Sirona and her fellow drui Cruthin could hold a sacred ceremony. I discovered the Druid's Circle in a book on British megaliths and knew immediately it was the perfect spot for my characters to call down the power of the night sky to protect the spirit of the Celtic tribes in the upcoming battle with the Romans. 

Fifteen years after writing that book, I finally had a chance to visit the actual place where I had set my story, and found it just as magical and awe-inspiring as I had envisioned.