CM350

Pen Caenewydd ring cairn  

23/09/2004  

Designated  

Carmarthenshire  

Myddfai  

279172  

228991  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Ring Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a ring cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within open moorland on the W-facing slopes of the SW end of the Mynydd Myddfai ridge. The well-preserved ring cairn is circular on plan and measures about 13.5m in diameter within a grass-covered stony ring bank about 1.5m in thickness and up to 0.2m in height. The interior slopes slightly to the SW, the direction towards which the monument 'faces'. The ring cairn is situated with wide views around the SW arc, but, despite its location on the leading edge of the slopes above the lower ground to the N and W, the views around the N arc are hidden by the immediate terrain. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The monument is well preserved and is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence. 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 Mynydd Bach-Trecastell Stone Circles (BR069) situated to the NE and the ring cairn pair situated immediately to the E (CM349). 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 30m in diameter.