PE315

Brownslade Round Barrow  

02/07/1958  

Designated  

Pembrokeshire  

Castlemartin  

190526  

197229  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Barrow  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of an earth and sand built round barrow which probably dates to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC) and is situated at the landward edge of an area of fixed sand dunes. The barrow measures c 38m in diameter and is 2.1m high. Part-excavation of the barrow in 1882 uncovered a central burial accompanied with wheel turned pottery set within a cist which had been closed by a cross-marked slab. The location of the barrow within an later early medieval cemetery was confirmed after survey in 2002 and excavation of an area south east of the barrow in 2006 which uncovered approximately 38 graves dating to between the 6th and 11th century. Excavation also established that sand dune formation had occurred between 200BC and 500AD and that the dunes preserve a buried land surface of possible prehistoric date on which early cultivation marks were observed. 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. Barrows may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value, the significance of the site is further enhanced a continuation of burial practice in the early medieval period. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.