DE043

Capel Hiraethog Earth Circles  

 

Designated  

Denbighshire  

Cyffylliog  

303622  

354626  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Ring Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a ring cairn of earth and stone, which probably dates to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC), and lies some 360m above sea level in a shallow upland saddle. The cairn lies in a clearing on the edge of the forest with an interior diameter of 15m, the bank is 0.6m in height and 2m wide. A stone remains embedded in the bank on the north side of the circle and the ground in the centre is undulating. The site of a smaller eastern circle, being some 10m across, is on raised undulating ground to the north of the road, but no evidence remains of this circle. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The feature is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. Ring cairns 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.