MG278

Nant Cwm Gerwyn Cairns  

30/07/2002  

Designated  

Powys  

Caersws  

299587  

298711  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Kerb Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of three burial cairns, each with a kerb of edge-set stones defining the edge, which probably dates to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC). The cairns are within 1km of each other, with Cairn I measuring 8m in diameter and 0.6m high with a central hollow measuirng 1m in diameter and 0.25m deep. Cairn II is 10.5m in diameter and 0.7m high and Cairn III is 12m in diameter and 0.7m high. 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 structural evidence and intact burial or ritual deposits. Kerb cairns may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. There are three circles, each being centred on a cairn, that around Cairn I measuirng 12m in diameter, Cairn II, 15m in diameter and Cairn III, 16m in diameter.