Castell Llygoden 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 in forestry on the SW-facing flanks of Castell Llygoden, with what would have been fine views down the Afon Tywi to the SSW. The stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 12m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height. Although it has been disturbed in the past - a small modern marker cairn has been created upon its summit - the majority of the base of the cairn appears to remain intact. 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.

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 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 25m in diameter.