Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Twyn y Post Cairns
Merthyr Cynog, Powys, Wales
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Platform Cairn
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 22 March 1994
- Community
- Merthyr Cynog
- Unitary authority
- Powys
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.05781, -3.41881
- SAM number
- BR203
- Cadw record number
- 766
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 5 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1608 "(13) Cambriae Typus." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Cadw's description
Summary description and reason for designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.
The monument comprises the remains of three cairns, which probably date to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). The cairns are located adjacent to each other on a level hilltop above the upper reaches of the Honddu valley. The NW cairn comprises a flat-topped stone round cairn 11m in diameter and 0.4m high. The central cairn is located 15m to the SSE and comprises a small ring cairn 8m in diameter, with a surviving bank 2.5m wide and 0.4m high. The bank tapers off to the E and has been destroyed in the NE quadrant. The SE cairn comprises a small ring cairn 12m in diameter with a surviving bank around 3m wide at the base and up to 1.5m wide on top. There is an inner ditch encircling the central dome which is 5m in diameter at the base. There is a small hollow on the W side and a small gap in the SE side of the outer bank.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The features are an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. 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.
Nearby in the register
- Gwaun Ymryson Round CairnCairnunder 1 mi
- Cefn Clawdd CairnCairnunder 1 mi
- Cornelau Uchaf EnclosureEnclosureunder 1 mi
- Cefn Clawdd Cairn (East)Round Cairnunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.