PRINCIPAL NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE AXE RAW MATERIAL EXTRACTION SITES

Photographs of a selection of sites visited by IPG members, mostly during the groups field visits. Each of these sites preserve the remains of Neolithic or Early Bronze Age quarry activity.

Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England

No precise source has been identified for axes of this group (Group XX), but the general area has been located (for more information see Shotton 1959). Unfortunately, very few of the potential outcrops are publicly accessible.

County Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland

Flint and chalk outcrops along the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland (for more information see Collins 1979).

Cwm Mawr in Powys, Wales

Source of Group XII battle-axes and axe-hammers (For more information see Shotton Et al. 1951)

Photograph of the Group XII source Cwm Mawr. © Steve Burrow/National Museum Wales 2021

Cwmystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales

The Site of an extensively excavated Early Bronze Age copper mine (for more information see Timberlake 2003).

Graig Lwyd, Penmaenmawr, Conwy, Wales

Source of Group VII axes (Williams and Davidson 1998) Much of the original mountain has been quarried away, but some areas of axe working remain.

Great Orme in Conwy, Wales

Site of the largest surviving Bronze Age copper mine in Europe (for more information see Dutton et al. 1994).

Grimes Graves in Norfolk, England

An extensive area of Neolithic flint mines (for more information see Healey et al. 2018; Mercer 1981). English Heritage now manages the site.

Lambay Island, near Dublin, Ireland

A Source of porphyritic axes (for more information see Cooney 2005)

Langdale in Cumbria, England

The largest surviving axe production area in the British Isles and source of Group VI axes (Claris et al. 1989)

Mynydd Parys on Anglesey, Wales

Early Bronze Age copper mine with early shafts still preserved below 19th-century spoil heaps (for more information see Jenkins 2003).

Mynydd Rhiw in Gwynedd, Wales

Hillside marked by extensive Neolithic quarrying (for more information see Burrow 2011).

Penzance in Cornwall, England

The general area from which Group I axes were derived – now presumed to be submerged (for more information see Markham 2009)

The general area of the rock source for Group I Axes in Penzance. © Steve Burrow/National Museum Wales 2021

Carn Meini, Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Carn Meini, the most famous of the outcrops in the Preseli Hills and one of the sources of the Stonehenge bluestones (for more information see Thorpe et al. 1991).

Rathlin Island off County Antrim, Ireland

One of the sources of Group IX axes (for More Information see Forsythe 2012; Cooney & Mandal 1998).

Tievebulliagh in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland

Another of the sources of Group IX axes. (for more information see Mallory 1990; Cooney & Mandal 1998)