RD216

Esgair Beddau cairns  

26/01/2004  

Designated  

Powys  

Rhayader  

286540  

268961  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of two burial cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the E-facing terraced slopes of Clawdd Du Mawr, above and to the NW of Nant Cletwr. The grass-covered stone built cairns are both roughly circular on plan. The south-easternmost cairn (Esgair Beddau cairn A) measures about 6.5m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height. The north-westernmost cairn (Esgair Beddau cairn B) measures about 5.2m in diameter and up to 0.3m in height. At least seven small upright stones are visible within the kerb. Both cairns have fine views to the ESE and the mouth of their particular valley. The monuments are of national importance as important relics of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and for the potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monuments retain significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including traces of a buried prehistoric land surface underneath. The area scheduled comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. They are circular and measure 15m in diameter (Esgair Beddau cairn A: SN 8655 6895) and 15m in diameter (Esgair Beddau cairn B: SN 8651 6897) respectively.