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Often remote and hard to find, a number of wild and weathered ruins still remain around Wales waiting to be found.

A new book acts as a guide to prehistoric Wales, perfect to explore on your next walk in the beautiful Welsh countryside.

From stone circles and hillforts to burial chambers and sacred temples, Wild Ruins BC - The Explorers Guide to Britain's Ancient Sites give you an insight into how our ancestors once lived.

So here's how you go about finding them.

Maen Llia, Ystradfellte

(Image: David Evans)

This large, lonely monolith has stood on the desolate moors high in the Brecon Beacons for millennia.

There are stories of Maen Llia coming to life and drinking nightly in the nearby river before the cock crows - it's true, at sunset the pointed shadow creeping towards the water river does resemble a tongue.

Over three and a half metres tall, nearly three metres wide, but less than a metre thick, the stone resembles a Neolithic hand axe.

How to find it: At Ystradfellte take the road north past the New Inn (CF44 9JE) and continue for just under four miles. There is a pull-in on the right and the stone is in the field over the stile.

King Arthur's Cave, Monmouth

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Hidden deep in the back of the cave, clues were unearthed by late 19th century archaeologists as to this cave's wild past; flints were found alongside the bones of great Irish elk, woolly rhinos, lions and bison dating to a staggering 30,000 years ago.

Later evidence of life - hearths dating to 12,120 years ago, flints from the Mesolithic and Neolithic and artifacts from the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and Roman occupation - have also been discovered.

How to find it: Take the A40 northeast from Monmouth, turn left towards Doward after about two miles, before the Symonds Yat roundabout. Follow signs for Crockers Ash and head for Doward Park campsite. Park in the pull-in just before it and follow the track into the woods past the old quarry.

Brenig 51, Conwy

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Some 4,000 years ago, a community living in the valleys below the Denbigh Moors solemnly placed the bodies of an adult and a child close to the centre of a circular platform of level stones, below a towering totem pole.

The bodies were then cremated, placed in a pot and buried with a bone-handled dagger. Reconstructed in the 1970s this once sacred cairn remains one of the most unusual Bronze Age sites in Britain.

How to find it: From Cerrigydrudion village on the A5, follow the B4501 north. At the road narrowing sign several miles on, turn right and follow until the car park. The archaeological trail is signed, with markers to the site.

St Lythans Burial Chamber, Dyffryn

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

This chambered long barrow would once have been covered in earth with a forecourt, but all this has long since vanished.

Very little is known about the tomb other than that it was certainly in use 5,000–6,000 years ago.

Locally it is also called Gwal-y-Filiast and folklore has it that the capstone spins around three times on Midsummer’s Eve before going down to bathe in the River Waycock.

How to find it: From St Nicholas on the A48 carry on past Tinkinswood and Dyffryn Gardens to the T-junction, turn left and park by the side of the road when you see the Cadw brown sign.

Goldcliff, Newport

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Back in the Mesolithic era, the area in and around Goldcliff would have looked quite different.

In what is now a tidal estuary stood an island covered in oak trees and surrounded by a dense reed swamp.

Footprints of humans, reindeer and wild crane made over 6,000 years ago have been found hidden under the silty mud.

Evidence of a series of temporary campsites along these prehistoric shores also suggests they must have been prime hunting grounds.

How to find it: Follow Goldcliff Road east through Goldcliff and a half mile after crossing the bridge. As the road bends left to pass a red-brick chapel, take the right hand turn signposted Seawall. Park at the end beyond the local tearooms and follow the steps over the bank to the estuary.

Discoed Yew, Powys

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

At least 2,000 years old, the Discoed Yew is arguably one of the oldest living things in the British Isles. Due to its wide girth it has been claimed to be anything up to 5,000 years old.

This is also a great area of Powys to explore: around a mile south-west of the tree, in aptly named Castlering Wood, are the remains of an Iron Age hillfort, while another, known as Burfa Camp, can be found more than over two miles due south.

How to find it: Follow the B4356 west of Presteigne and take the left turn towards Gumma Farm and Cascob as the road bends to the right. Continue to Discoed and park at the sign for the church just past the red postbox. Follow path up and left to the churchyard. There is another ancient and fascinatingly furrowed yew further along the lane at Cascob church.

King's Quoit Dolmen, Pembrokeshire

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Perched on the cliff path, this burial chamber offers a sweeping view out to sea and down to the sandy beach at Manorbier Bay.

Positioned to be visible from both the land and water, much of the structure is below ground and is thought to have been built by removing the surrounding earth rather than raising the capstone.

How to find it: Take the road west out of Manorbier for a little under half a mile, past the large car park until you come to a pull-in on the left. Cross the beach and follow the cliff path around to the dolmen, a 10-minute moderate walk.

Tinkinswood Burial Chamber, St Nicholas

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

The first thing that strikes you about Tinkinswood is the huge capstone: a single solid piece of rock over nine metres long and estimated to weigh over 40 tonnes - arguably the largest in Britain.

The bones of around 45 individuals were found mixed together within the tomb, of which 21 were women, 16 men and the rest children.

According to legend, if you spend the night in the chamber on May eve, St John’s Eve or midwinter eve you will die, go mad or become a poet.

How to find it: Take the A48 west from Cardiff to St Nicholas and there that the left turning signposted Dffryn, Tinkinswood and St Lythans. After about a half mile pull in on the right.

Bryn Celli Ddu, Llanfair PG

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

With a name which is said to mean 'the hill in the dark grove', this Anglesey tomb was built into an existing henge monument dating back to 3000BC, which had a stone circle within its banks - itself a possible replacement for an even earlier wooden circle.

Inside the tomb is a stone pillar the size of a fully grown person, which resembles a petrified tree trunk, but is, in fact, blueschist - a stone formed under immense pressure.

Similar free-standing pillars are found in Brittany and it has been interpreted as a guardian or protector of the tomb.

How to find it: Take the A4080 Brynsiencyn Road southwest from Llanfair PG and, after two miles, turn right. There is a car park on the left after just over half a mile. Cross the road and walk back a short way to follow footpath signs up and to left.

Harold's Stones, Trellech

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

These derive their name from a tale in which King Harold used the stones to mark the ground where three rival Saxon chieftains fell - but we now know the structures are far older, dating back to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age.

Closer examination of the central stone shows enigmatic carved indentations or cup marks, which may have been rudimentary writing or even a calendar.

Legend has it that, in a contest with the devil, a giant called Jack O'Church threw the stones there from atop Ysgyryd Fawr.

How to find it: Park in Trellech village and follow the main street/B4293 south. Around 150 metres after the right hand bend you will see the stones in a field to the left.

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Bryn Cader Faner, Gwynedd

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Sitting on high like a stone crown, this lofty, isolated Bronze Age cairn's name translates, amongst other things, as 'the fortress of waves on the hill'.

Today the centre of the cairn is little more than a mass of stones, but an Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Wales from the 1920s describes the remains of an eight foot by five foot central chamber with a two foot-high stone 'resembling the gables of a house'.

How to find it: Take the B4573 towards Harlech, then first left to Eisingrug. Follow left around the village pond then right before parking near Tynybwlch farm gates.

Follow the road to the right before forking onto the Taith Ardudwy Way. Keep to this path for another mile north west until you read a rocky outcrop, after which, the monument should be visible.

Pentre Ifan, Pembrokeshire

(Image: Umbrellahead65)

A popular tourist attraction, this Neolithic marvel - its five-metre-long capstone poised almost magically on the near pen-point tips of equally large uprights - would have been an even more impressive structure in its heyday.

Back then it would have been covered in a mound of earth 40 metres long and 17 metres wide, with a large semicircular forecourt.

Local folklore tells of fairies visiting the site wearing red caps and soldiers' clothes.

How to find it: Signed at the Brynberian turning on B4329, between Rosebushand Crosswell. Follow the road through Brynberian, past the left turn for the chapel and continue for nearly 12 miles further, until you reach a large layby. Follow footpath at end to the dolmen.

Din Lligwy, Moelfre

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

The capstone of Lligwy Burial Chamber is thought to be one of the largest in Britain - it's estimated to weigh 25 tonnes, while its dimensions are nearly six metres long, more than five metres wide and just over one metre thick.

This colossal stone lies over eight uprights in an astonishing example of Late Neolithic engineering

It would have served the local community, and contained the bones of up to 30 men, women and children along with animal bones, mussel shells and both Neolithic and Bronze Age pottery.

How to find it: At the Paradwys Chapel roundabout of the A5052/A5108, take the road signed Traeth Lligwy/Din Lligwy. Follow a half mile until you see a kissing gate and notice board for the dolmen appear on the left. Drive a further 300metres for more parking by gate to Lligwy Chapel and walk back.

Tre'r Ceiri, Llŷn Peninsula

(Image: Dave Hamilton/Jon Taylor)

Few prehistoric sites are as tangible or complete as this. You can still clearly see the footings of the 150 stone huts, which were densely packed inside a perimeter wall three and a half metres high and up to four and a half metres thick.

The circles date to the earlier Iron Age, while the D-shaped and rectangular remains are later Roman constructions; thought to have been built around 200BC.

It remained occupied for 500–600 years, until the late Roman period around the fourth century AD.

How to find it: Follow the A499 past Trefor south to Llanalhaiarn roundabout and take the B4417 south west. After a mile park at the long lay-by and walk on 20 metres to the footpath by the wall - follow directions on the nearby message board to the summit; 20 minutes' very strenuous walk.

Wild Ruins BC - The Explorers Guide to Britain's Ancient Sites by Dave Hamilton is out now on Wild Things Publishing, priced £16.99 .