GM204

St-y-Nyll Round Barrow  

 

Designated  

Vale of Glamorgan  

St. Georges-super-Ely  

310079  

178295  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Barrow  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a earthen built round barrow, which probably date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). It is situated on a gently sloping hill on east-facing ground. The barrow measures 16m in diameter by c. 1m high. It has been excavated in 1872 when human remains were found, and again in 1958 by H. Savory. This latter excavation discovered that the barrow was originally of stones c. 9-10m in diameter surrounded by a flat bottomed ditch c. 2.1m deep. In the centre was a post hole, under which was a shallow pit capped by a sandstone slab and a small cairn of stones, containing the cremated remains of an adult female and a child. Below the central part of the mound were post holes of three oval huts. Bones of sheep, ox and wild boar were found, together with flints and fragments of early Bronze Age pottery. 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 scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.