ME217

Ffridd Braich Llwyd Bronze Age Ritual Complex  

10/02/2003  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Mawddwy  

291241  

313732  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Ring Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises an impressive and largely intact burial and ritual monument of the Early Bronze Age (c. 2000-1500 BC). It consists of a large, well-preserved ring cairn associated with a smaller round cairn some 100m to the south-east. The ring cairn is a circular bank of turfed-over stones some 16m in diameter, 1.5m wide and 0.5m high, with a 3m wide south-eastern entrance defined by large, upright stones. The round cairn is well-preserved, undisturbed and turf-covered, some 7m in diameter and 0.75m high. The site stands in a spectacular position at the summit of a south-east facing ridge of Mynydd Clywedog, with extensive views across Mynydd Talyglannau. 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 and preserved prehistoric ground surfaces below the monuments, together with environmental and structural evidence. Ring cairns may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can be 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.