Twr Pen-cyrn round cairns

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of two large burial cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated in open moorland on the summit of Twr Pen-cyrn on Mynydd Pen-cyrn. The stone-built cairns are both circular on plan and measure about 15m in diameter and about 1.5m in height. Although both have been disturbed in the past - large shelters have been constructed within each - the majority of the base of each cairn remains intact and undisturbed.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The 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 structural evidence and intact burial or ritual deposits. The importance of the monument is further enhanced by the topographical association of the cairns with the round cairn to the E (BR358), on the upper edge of an E-facing slope of Mynydd Pen-cryn; and with the round cairn on the ridge further to the W (BR30). The summit cairns are intervisible with both.

The scheduled areas comprise the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. That to the SE is centred on the southeasternmost cairn (Item A: SO 20325 14460); it is circular and measures 30m in diameter. That to the NW is centred on the northwesternmost cairn (Item B: SO 20291 14508); it is circular and measures 30m in diameter.