CM361

Nant Cilgwyn standing stone  

27/06/2005  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Cynwyl Gaeo  

266221  

237019  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Standing Stone  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises a fine quartzitic standing stone, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within improved pasture on the rounded slopes above and to the N of the Nant Cilgwyn. The standing stone measures 1.1m in height, 1m in thickness from NW to SE by 0.7m in width. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric ritual practices. The monument is well preserved and is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. 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. The area scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 6m in diameter.