Blaen Clydach Fach 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 large platform cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within enclosed pasture on the W-facing slopes above and to the E of Cwm Dwr, on the SW flanks of Mynydd Bwlch-y-Groes. The grass-covered stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 18m in diameter and 0.4m in height. Although there are signs of disturbance - several small hollows are visible in its surface - the majority of the cairn appears substantially intact. The cairn displays no evidence of original 'bulk' and boasts a well-defined edge; it is thus interpreted as a large low platform 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 likelihood that the cairn is an example of a more unusual structural class of cairn, the platform cairn, further increases its importance - as does its topographic association with the contemporary burial cairn situated immediately to the SSE, Blaen Clydach Fach round cairn (BR348).

The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 28m in diameter.