Pant-y-Saer Burial Chamber

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of a chambered tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c.4,400 BC - 2,900 BC). Chambered tombs were built and used by local farming communities over long periods of time. There appear to be many regional traditions and variations in shape and construction.

The burial chamber is formed by three orthostats, forming three sides of a rectangle, supporting a capstone and is surrounded by the remains of a kidney-shaped cairn. It is situated on top of a limestone plateau. The capstone is tilted to the east with that end of the stone resting on the ground. The western side of the chamber is open, and has a rock-cut pit interior that is approximately 2.6m square. The capstone measures 3m in length, 2.5m in width and is 0.5m thick. The rock-cut pit does not confine itself to the chamber, but continues beyond the edge of the capstone to the north, east and west, measuring 3.5m east-west, and 3m north-south. Around the chamber lies a grass-covered bank, which is now poorly defined, but that is 4m wide and 0.4m high, which is the remains of cairn material. The site was excavated in 1874 and more fully in 1930, when finds of both Neolithic and Beaker date were recovered.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface may survive. Chambered tombs may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can be further enhanced by their group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them.