CN385

Cwm Llefrith cairn  

02/08/2006  

Designated  

Gwynedd  

Dolbenmaen  

254974  

347298  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on a local plateau on the SW-facing slopes of Moel yr Ogof above Cwm Llefrith. The grass-covered cairn is circular on plan and measures about 6.5m in diameter and up to 0.4m in height. Several well-defined lengths of kerb are visible, the stones forming an unusual stepped effect of several distinct platforms. 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. Its importance is further enhanced by its unusual construction. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 18m in diameter.