Pant-y-Saer Hut Circles

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 an enclosed hut group, which probably dates from the first millennium BC, it is situated on top of a limestone plateau. The enclosure wall averages 2m wide and 0.5 m high; it is made up of an inner and outer face of orthostatic slabs, with an inner core of rubble. It is best preserved on the S and E sides, many of the facing stones having been removed on the N side. The area enclosed is oval in shape with the longer axis running E-W and measuring 46 m and the shorter axis 35 m. The entrance was probably on the SW corner, where there is a gap in the enclosure wall 3.5 m wide. Inside the enclosure there is a free-standing circular hut on the W side, another circular hut on the E, which seems to be partly built in to the enclosure wall, and a series of rectangular structures grouped around or attached to this latter round hut.

The round hut to the W is 6.3 m in diameter, with an entrance on the E side 2.2 m wide. The hut wall is 1.3 m wide and 0.6 m high, of two faces of piled stone with a rubble centre. Parts of the walls and much of the floor of the hut are grassed over.

The round hut on the E side is 9 m in diameter with a wall 1.5 m wide and 0.4 m high, mostly of orthostatic construction although the inner face is largely missing from the E side. The entrance is on the NW side. N of the entrance lie the remains of a rectangular structure, of which two walls only remain, the longer one attached to the hut at one end and running NW for some 5 m, where it forms a right angle with another wall running SW for some 3 m. The remains of another rectangular structure lie against the W side of the round hut; this one is 3.75 m wide and about 10 m long, although the W end is no longer visible. The N wall of this hut continues, after turning towards the S, for a further 12.5 m until it reaches the enclosure wall. At this point it becomes confused with a modern stone structure, probably a small sheep pen, which has been constructed in the angle of the two walls.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric settlement. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structures themselves may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.