RD210

Cistfaen barrows  

30/06/2004  

Designated  

Powys  

Rhayader  

286453  

276905  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Barrow  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of two round barrows, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the S-facing slopes of Cistfaen. The grass-covered barrows are both circular on plan. The northernmost barrow (Cistfaen barrow A) measures about 8m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height and has an exposed central cist, which measures about 1.2m in length by 0.5m transversely within earthfast edge-set orthostats. The southernmost barrow (Cistfaen barrow B) measures about 5m in diameter and up to 0.3m 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 areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. They are circular and measure 10m in diameter (Cistfaen barrow A: SN 8647 7693) and 8m in diameter (Cistfaen barrow B: SN 8641 7686) respectively.