Scheduled Monuments- Full Report
Summary Description of a Scheduled Monument
Reference Number
RD209
Name
Cistfaen cairns
Date of Designation
30/06/2004
Status
Designated
Location
Unitary Authority
Powys
Community
Rhayader
Easting
286365
Northing
277018
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Site Type
Round Cairn
Period
Prehistoric
Description
Summary Description and Reason for Designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.
The monument comprises the remains of two burial cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the S-facing side of the summit of Cistfaen. The stone built cairns are both roughly circular on plan. The northernmost cairn (Cistfaen cairn A) measures about 8.5m in diameter and up to 0.6m in height. The southernmost cairn (Cistfaen cairn B) measures about 13.5m in diameter and up to 1.1m in height.
The monuments are of national importance as important relics of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and for the potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monuments retain significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including traces of a buried prehistoric land surface underneath.
The area scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is rectangular and measures 65m from NNE to SSW by 30m transversely.