MG318

Afon y Dolau Gwynion kerb cairn  

23/08/2007  

Designated  

Powys  

Pen-y-bont-Fawr  

302498  

323016  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Kerb Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a kerb cairn, a burial mound probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on the SW-facing slopes above the Afon y Dolau Gwynion. The stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 5m in diameter and up to 0.3m in height. Although disturbed in the past - the cairn has a central hollow and what is probably a displaced capstone - the kerb of edge-set stones that defines the cairn remains intact and well-preserved. 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, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence. The structural integrity of the kerb, the wider landscape context (the cairn is situated within an area rich in prehistoric funerary monuments) and the potential of the surrounding boggy ground to provide associated paleoenvironmental evidence all further increase the importance of the monument. 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 22m in diameter.