News

Bluestone ‘quarry’ findings questioned

Published

10 years ago

December 13, 2015

Tom Sinclair

By Matthew Bearne

Disputed: The ’quarry’ site

FOLLOWING reports last week that archaeologists had located the ‘quarry’ where the Stonehenge bluestones originated, a paper had been published which casts significant doubt over their findings.

Earth scientists who worked at a bluestone monolith quarry site at Craig Rhosyfelin in Pembrokeshire have suggested that the archaeologists have got it all wrong, and that the so-called engineering features on the flank of the crag are entirely natural. Furthermore, it is suggested that members of the digging team have unconsciously created the very features that they have cited in support of their quarrying hypothesis.

In a peer-reviewed paper published on Monday (Dec 14) in Archaeology in Wales journal Dr Brian John, Dr Dyfed Elis-Gruffydd and John Downes have described a set of Ice Age deposits and landforms at the site of an archaeological dig that was started in 2011, and have determined that there are no traces of human intervention in any of the features that have made the archaeologists so excited. These include features described by the diggers as a quarry face, a quarry spoil bank, a storage platform, props and pillars, stone rails, a proto-orthostat, a revetment, and an export pathway. Most of these are now dismissed as archaeological artifices unconsciously created by the archaeologists themselves during five years of highly selective sediment removal. In other words, the authors of the new article suggest that the archaeologists have created what they wanted to find, instead of describing what was there.

This site has been described by lead archaeologist Prof Mike Parker Pearson as the Pompeii of prehistoric stone quarries and has caused great excitement in archaeological circles. The selection of this rocky crag near the village of Brynberian for excavation in 2011- 2015 was triggered by the discovery by geologists Richard Bevins and Rob Ixer that some of the stone fragments in the soil at Stonehenge were quite precisely matched to an unusual type of foliated rhyolite found in the crag. This led the archaeologists to conclude that there must have been a Neolithic quarry here, worked for the specific purpose of cutting out monoliths for the bluestone settings at Stonehenge.

Commenting on the new research paper, Dr Brian John said: “The new geological work at Rhosyfelin and Stonehenge is an interesting piece of ‘rock provenencing’ – but it tells us nothing at all about how monoliths or smaller rock fragments from West Wales found their way to Stonehenge. We are sure that the archaeologists have convinced themselves that the glacial transport of erratics was impossible. We are not sure where they got that idea from. On the contrary, there is substantial evidence in favour of glacial transport and zero evidence in support of the human transport theory. We accept that there might have been a camp site at Rhosyfelin, used intermittently by hunters over several millennia. But there is no quarry. We think the archaeologists have been so keen on telling a good story here that they have ignored or misinterpreted the evidence in front of them. That’s very careless. They now need to undertake a complete reassessment of the material they have collected.”

The three authors of the new paper suggest that this fundamental error in interpretation might have been avoided if there had been greater cooperation in the Rhosyfelin dig between archaeologists and specialists from related disciplines.

Crime

Man charged with strangulation and assault offences after October incident

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

A MAN recorded in court as having no fixed abode has appeared before magistrates charged with intentional strangulation and two further assault offences.

Michael Sudbury, 50, whose address was not read out in court, but in Herald records is Glan Hafan, Llangwm, appeared before the bench facing multiple charges.

The charges relate to an incident on 22 October 2025 and include:

Intentional strangulation, contrary to section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015
Common assault
Assault by beating

No further details of the alleged incident were opened in court, and no plea was entered at this stage.

Sudbury was remanded on conditional bail, with the case listed to return to magistrates later this month.

Crime

Haverfordwest man sent to Crown Court on multiple serious charges

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

Defendant remanded in custody

A HAVERFORDWEST man has been sent to Swansea Crown Court to stand trial on a series of A 49-year-old Haverfordwest resident has been committed to Swansea Crown Court to face trial on multiple serious charges deemed too grave for magistrates to handle.

David Guy, of Market Street, Haverfordwest, appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates facing a series of allegations stemming from a single case. The charges, which were not detailed in open court, include:

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH)
A second count of assault
Criminal damage
An additional allegation of interpersonal violence
A public order offence

Magistrates declined jurisdiction, determining that the matters exceeded their sentencing powers, and sent the case in its entirety to Swansea Crown Court.

Guy was remanded in custody pending his next appearance. The court register notes: “Sent to Crown Court for trial in custody – next hearing at Swansea Crown Court.”

A date for the initial Crown Court hearing will be set administratively. Guy will remain in custody until then.

The Pembrokeshire Herald will provide further updates as the case progresses in the Crown Court.

Crime

Castlemartin man back before magistrates over multiple alleged assaults

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Court Reporter

Defendant remanded on conditional bail ahead of further hearing

A CASTLEMARTIN man has appeared repeatedly before magistrates this month over a string A 40-year-old man from Castlemartin has made repeated appearances before magistrates this month in connection with a series of serious alleged offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), intentional non-fatal strangulation, common assault, and criminal damage.

Anthony Alcock, of Pwll Street, Castlemartin, is facing six linked charges stemming from incidents said to have occurred earlier this year. These appear to relate to the same complainant in what is understood to be a single ongoing domestic abuse prosecution.

During recent administrative hearings at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court, Alcock did not enter pleas while matters of bail and case management were addressed.

Charges Include:

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH)
Intentional non-fatal strangulation
Common assault on a woman
Criminal damage in a domestic context
Additional assault allegations involving the same complainant
Breach of bail conditions

Alcock was initially granted conditional bail but was subsequently brought before the court on two occasions for alleged breaches. On those instances, magistrates remanded him in custody ahead of further hearings. He was later re-granted conditional bail, subject to strict conditions such as no contact with the complainant and exclusion from specified locations.

Magistrates have now declined jurisdiction, ruling that the case—particularly the more serious charges involving non-fatal strangulation—is too grave for summary trial. It has been committed to Swansea Crown Court for plea, trial, or sentencing.

No detailed evidence has been presented in open court at this preliminary stage. Alcock remains on conditional bail pending his next appearance at the Crown Court.