CM349

Mynydd Myddfai, ring cairns on W end of  

21/09/2004  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Myddfai  

279474  

228903  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Ring Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of two ring cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated close together within open moorland on the Mynydd Myddfai ridge. The stone built cairns are circular on plan and are situated about 25m apart, the northernmost being situated downslope of the southernmost. That to the NNW (Mynydd Myddfai West ring cairn A) measures about 5m in diameter within a stony ring bank about 2m in thickness and up to 0.2m in height. Well-defined edges to the ring bank are visible - and it has an uneven, stone filled interior. That to the SSE (Mynydd Myddfai West ring cairn B) measures about 5m in diameter within a stony ring bank about 1.5m in thickness and up to 0.2m in height. The cairns form a pair very similar to those excavated on Cefn Bryn on the Gower Peninsular (Ward, 1988), the ring cairns forming each pair being similar in size, structure and setting (including topographical relation to each other). The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential. Its importance is further enhanced by the group value formed by its spatial association with similar Bronze Age monuments on the Mynydd Myddfai ridge, including the larger Mynydd Myddfai ring cairn (CM346) and the Mynydd Bach-Trecastell Stone Circles (BR069), both situated further to the NE along the ridge. The area scheduled comprise the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is rectangular and measures 60m from NNW to SSE by 30m transversely.