Pen y Gadair Fawr platform cairn

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 a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated in open moorland on the summit of Gadair Fawr. The stone-built cairn is roughly circular on plan and measures about 13m in diameter and 0.7m in height. The cairn was possibly originally a platform cairn - the cairn displays no evidence of original 'bulk', while elements of a level surface are visible. Despite the construction of a small modern cairn on its summit, the cairn is substantially intact. It commands fine views over the surrounding upland but does not overlook any particular valley.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The well-preserved 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 likelihood that the cairn is an example of a more unusual structural class of cairn, the platform cairn, further increases its importance.

The scheduled area 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.