PE043

Burial Chamber  

 

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Solva  

181200  

223941  

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. 4,400 BC - 2,900 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. The burial chamber lies on flat ground, 400m from the sea at the junction of two paths on the National Park footpath. It consists of a large capstone which measures 3.3m in length, 2.4m wide and is 0.7m thick and supported on the south by a small side stone, 0.7m in height. The chamber has an internal measurement of 4m square and has a maximum height of 1m. It is open on the east, while the other sides are closed by several small boulders lying at ground level. A group of small boulders lie in a mound all around this chamber and joins it to a second group of massive stones, which consists of two large side stones with a massive probable capstone lying between the two. The eastern most sidestone has been used as a gatepost in times past and has an iron rod sticking into it and is 2m in length, 0.7m wide and 1.5m in height. The capstone is 2.7m square and is 0.6m thick. The western most sidestone is 1m in height, 2m wide and is 0.6m thick. 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.