GM480

Burial Chamber Nr Carn Llechart  

 

Designated  

Neath Port Talbot  

Pontardawe  

269666  

206266  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Chambered Tomb  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a chambered tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 4400 BC - 2400 BC). Chambered tombs were built and used by local farming communities over long periods of time. There appear to be many regional traditions and variations in shape and construction. Situated in the uplands of Glamorgan the megalithic tomb near Carn Llechart Llechart is on ground falling to the south-west just below the brow of a ridge in open moorland. The huge capstone measures 5.3m in length, 2.4m wide and is 0.8m thick and was formerly supported by the long slab resting vertically at its north side and by the slab lying adjacent on the south. Three earthfast stones, one leaning outwards are supplemented by two further displaced slabs within to form the northern side of the tomb. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. Chambered tombs may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.