PE496

Cerrig Lladron stone row  

15/11/2005  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Cwm Gwaun  

206648  

232274  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Stone Row  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a stone row, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on level terrace below Cerrig Lladron. The three stones are aligned from NNE to SSW, the row measuring 17m in length overall. The row is aligned with the large round cairn situated upon the summit of Cerrig Lladron (PE298), about 200m to the SSW. The largest stone measures 2.5m in height, 1.9m in length and 1m in width. Its nearest neighbour, that to the NNE, measures 0.4m in height, while the stone situated to the SSW measures 0.7m in height. A further upright stone is situated immediately to the NE of the largest. It measures 0.6m in height and may have been displaced from the row. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric ritual practices. Such standing stones are assumed to have had some form of religious or ceremonial function - they may have formed a link to the celestial landscape that ruled the days, seasons and weather so important in the lives of their builders. What is not in doubt is that their positions within the physical landscape were deliberately chosen and these settings form an integral element of the importance of the individual monuments. For example, standing stones and stone rows may have acted as markers within the landscape, guiding the eye, the traveller or the ceremonial procession. The monument retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. Its spatial association with the burial cairn - the row being aligned upon the cairn (which itself has a short stony spur that is aligned upon the row) - further enhances its importance. The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is rectangular and measures 28m from NNE to SSW by 12m transversely.