BR304

Pen Cerrig-calch, cairn on NW side of  

03/02/2006  

Designated  

Powys  

Crickhowell  

321651  

222416  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated in open moorland on the NW side of the summit of Pen Cerrig-calch. The stone-built cairn is roughly circular on plan and measures about 15m in diameter and 1m in height. A large shelter has been constructed within its summit. The cairn was possibly originally a platform cairn - the cairn material upcast as the result of the construction of the shelter provides the impression of 'bulk', while elements of a level platform are occasionally visible around the cairn edges. The presence of two further platform cairns on the ridge, at Pen Allt-mawr (BR305) and Pen Gloch-y-pibwr (BR307), supports this interpretation. 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. The likelihood that the cairn is an example of a more unusual structural class of cairn, the platform cairn, further increases its importance. 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 22m in diameter.