CM340

Carn Wen round cairn  

09/12/2004  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn  

279827  

245275  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

he following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a large burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on a prominent ridge on the SW-facing slopes of Mynydd Trawsnant. The stone-built cairn is roughly circular on plan and measures about 26m in diameter. The cairn has been built over the ridge, lending it an impression of truly massive size: the cairn measures about 1.5m in height on the summit of the ridge, but about 2.5m in height at its base on the slopes. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The well-preserved monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. 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 38m in diameter.