ME240

Llwyn du Parc cairn  

16/04/2003  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Dyffryn Ardudwy  

261449  

319621  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Cairn Circle  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a round cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within rough grazing on the NW-facing flank of the Llaw Lech ridge. The stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures 4.2m in diameter and up to 0.4m in height. There is a fine exposed cist in the centre of the cairn, measuring about 1m in length by 0.4m transversely and 0.2m in depth, with a large capstone lying immediately to the NE. At least twelve outwardly inclining stones are set around the perimeter of the cairn, partially forming a possible cairn circle. 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 the presence of both intact secondary burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. The importance of the monument is further enhanced by its identification as a possible cairn circle, a particularly rare element within the surviving prehistoric ritual landscape. The area scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 15m in diameter.