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 Brook Cottage earth henge
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| Twin equinoctial alignments from an earthen megalithic ring. |
| Similar to Lechwedd Penrhiwen this site supports two alignments which would be observed on the same day, one at sunrise and one at sunset. This earth henge has now been destroyed by heavy equipment working nearby but not before an accurate survey had been made and several photographs secured at sunset and rise on the days appropriate to the equinoxes of the Megalithic Calendar . |
OS ref: SO 100 770  The main diameter of the ring was aligned on the linear bank on Moeldod horizon to the west indicating the position of the sunset at the Megalithic equinoxes. The minor diameter, the axis of symmetry, was very nearly on the north/south meridian. |
| The remains at this small site were a slightly raised and leveled ring of clay with a low bank and ditch which held water during rain. It was found that a megalithic design, the D ring type A, with the large diameter measuring 9.166 Megalithic Yards fitted the top of the bank exactly. This gives a perimeter of 11 Megalithic Rods and, with the commonly observed adjustment to the diameter, satisfies the criterion of integral lengths for the primary dimensions. |
Sunset on Moeldod linear bank at 1.5 miles, (2 km).
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This is a difficult alignment to photograph due to the high altitude of the line. When the Sun is this high a camera without heavy filtering is liable to be drenched with glare, however persistent attempts in different seasons and years have rendered the necessary data. |
| The foresight here is a linear bank some 30 yds, (27.5 m), in length arranged at right angles to the alignment. From the henge, at 1.5 mls,(2 km), the bank frames, or brackets, the setting Sun when at the declination for the equinoxes of the Megalithic Calendar in 1800 BC. | 
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This bank only protrudes above the hill line by 3 feet, (1 m), and is now difficult to see from the lower ground due to the growth of gorse bush but it can be seen how the centre of the bank indicates the centre of the solar disc at the required declination for Calendar Intervals 1 & 9. |
| Sunrise in hill notch to the east.
This backsight also supports an alignment to the east, to a hill notch which indicates the upper limb of the rising Sun on the same day as the sunset alignment- Megalithic Calendar intervals 1 & 9. |
Sunrise in a hill notch on Gorslydan to the east at the Megalithic Calendar equinoxes.
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The terrain around Brook Cottage is steep allowing few level places to position a backsight, however, as with the high Penrhiwen valley, a flat place in the narrowest part of the gorge has been located which allows the establishment of a backsight for another accurate twin equinoctial observatory.
The necessity for building such dual aligned backsights was probably provoked by the need to resolve ambiguities arising from the very rapid change of declination in the path of the Sun at an equinox. If only one observation is made to establish the correct day of the equinox confusion will arise if the exact moment sought is close to midnight. By observing to carefully placed sunrise and sunset markers the correct day of the equinox will be readily evident. |
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