Death, madness, or poetry! The perils of a night spent in Welsh Neolithic tomb

Constructed nearly 6000 years ago, some 1000 years before Stonehenge, Tinkinswood Burial Chamber - Siambr Gladdu Tinkinswood is an impressive Neolithic dolmen. A huge 40 ton capstone, thought to be the largest in Europe, covers a rectangular burial chamber with a dry stone wall forecourt.  When excavated the chamber held the bodies of over 50 individuals, along with broken pottery and worked flint. Originally it would have been covered by an earthen mound. It is located about a mile from St Nicholas (Sain Nicolas) in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales (Bro Morgannwg, De Cymru).

As with many such megalithic sites there are a number of legends and folktales associated with the tomb. One of which is that anyone who spends a night here on the evenings leading up to May Day, St John's Day (23rd June), or Midwinter Day would die, go mad, or become a poet! There is also a collection of boulders to the south of the tomb. They are said to be women turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath.