Cefn Esgair-Carnau round cairn (S)

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 large burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated in open moorland on the gentle SW-facing slopes at the head of the valley containing the Afon Hepste. The stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 12m in diameter and up to 0.6m in height. The cairn appears substantially intact, with a well-defined edge. It may be an infilled ring cairn, as a turf-covered ring bank (measuring about 2m in thickness) is partially visible - and its construction (it is set on a gentle slope, tilted towards the SW) and position (with overlooking ground nearby) are typical of a ring cairn.

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 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.