Twyn Disgwylfa 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 platform cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on a NE-facing ridge on the on the NE side of the Brecon Beacons and overlooking the Usk Valley. The cairn is situated upon a distinct terrace, overlooked by higher ground on the N side and above and to the NE of the level basin containing the Carreg Waun Lech standing stone (BR272). The platform cairn is circular on plan and measures about 11.5m in overall diameter and about 0.4m in height. The cairn displays no evidence of original 'bulk' and a well-defined edge is occasionally visible; it is thus interpreted as a low platform cairn or as an infilled 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 likelihood that the cairn is an example of a more unusual structural class of cairn, the platform cairn or ring cairn, further increases its importance, as does the topographic association with the contemporary standing stone situated c. 350m to the SSE.

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 30m in diameter.