ME003

Dyffryn Ardudwy Chambered Tomb  

 

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Dyffryn Ardudwy  

258898  

322836  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Hut Circle Settlement  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument consists of the remains of a chambered long cairn and a hut-circle settlement. The chambered long cairn probably dates to the early Neolithic (c. 4,200BC - 3,000BC) and the settlement to the Bronze Age or Iron Age (c.2300 BC - AD 74). A long cairn is a roughly rectangular or trapezoidal mound of stone, usually between 25m and 120m long, with a length exceeding twice its greatest width. The mound may be edged with a timber or stone revetment, and may contain one or more stone or wooden burial chambers at one end. Dyffryn Burial Chamber, is one of the largest Neolithic ritual monuments in north Wales and was excavated between 1961 and 1962. The monument consists of two east-west oriented portal dolmen-type chambers which are set within a large, well-defined trapezoidal cairn. The cairn is constructed of rounded boulders and measures 28m in length and 15m wide and aligned southwest to northeast. The 1960s excavations discovered ritual and funerary material and revealed two clear construction phases; the first monument phase, the western chamber, comprises a rectangular stone chamber, 2.5m wide and 1m in depth which is closed off with a blocking slab. Both the chamber and the eastern forecourt area were enclosed by an oval cairn measuring approximately 9m in length and with a maximum width of 8.5m. This cairn is completely enclosed by the later large trapezoidal cairn. East of the blocking slab are the remains of a well-defined V-shaped forecourt. The larger eastern chamber is located 10m to the northeast of its western counterpart and also has its forecourt oriented towards the east. In the field to the east of the burial chamber is a hut-circle settlement. This comprises the foundations of two round houses, an enclosure formed by low banks, two terraces and several clearance cairns, presumably created by contemporary agricultural practices. Part of the northern of the two hut circles is clearly visible, lying between two mature trees that grow on the boundary at the north of the scheduled area. Stonework of the southern hut circle and adjacent enclosure bank is visible poking through the turf. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices (the chambered long cairn) and prehistoric domestic life and social organisation (the hut circle settlement). It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of structural evidence and associated archaeological features and deposits. The features are an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and their importance is further enhanced by their group value. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them.