I have a theory. Having spent the last 20 years of so wandering around north east Wales, looking at all things old and ancient, I have come to the conclusion that north east Wales was, in the late Neolithic and Bronze Age, an area of intense ceremonial and ritual significance.
Every year, a new finding seems to unearth another layer of significance - a henge monument at Ysegifiog, is the last that comes to mind. The Mold Gold Cape, the Caegwrle Bowl, the growing belief that the River Alyn was a waterway of immense ritual importance...And Lord, the number of lumps and bumps, tumuli and cairn.
Y Gop is Wales largest prehistoric monument, and the third largest in the whole of the British Isles. Only Silbury Hill and the Malborough Mount in southern England are bigger. So what does that mean? Much time and energy is spent on unearthing the significance of Salisbury Plain to our ancestors, but here, by Trelawynd and Gwaenysgor is a monument of tremendous size and importance which seems to be consistently shrugged off. A cursory investigation in 1886-87 found nothing (just like at Silbury Hill)...but really, is that all we should expect. It even has a Mesolithic Cave beneath it, for goodness sake...
I visited Y Gop recently and was staggered. I have only just begun to research this monument in depth - but the story is fascinating and suggests such incredible things, such amazing things...I'll get back to you.