ME038

Cors-y-Gedol Burial Chamber  

 

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Dyffryn Ardudwy  

260325  

322819  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Chambered Long Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument consists of the remains of a chambered long cairn, dating to the early Neolithic (c. 4,200BC - 3,000BC). 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 they contain one or more stone or wooden burial chambers at one end. The site consists of the remains of a rectangular stone cairn which is orientated west southwest to east northeast; it is 28m in length, 10m wide and up to 1m high at its centre. A megalithic burial chamber, possibly a portal dolmen, is positioned at the north eastern end of the cairn. The chamber consists of a capstone which is 3.6m in length and has a maximum width of 2.9m, resting on a single upright which is 1m in height at its north eastern end. The south eastern end of the capstone rests on the material of the cairn itself, a second upright stands to the north east of the first and at right angles to it. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The features are an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. Chambered long cairns may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can be 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.