Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Castell Llygoden platform cairn
Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, Wales
A scheduled monument in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, recorded as Platform Cairn (Prehistoric).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Platform Cairn
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 24 November 2008
- Community
- Llanwrtyd Wells
- Unitary authority
- Powys
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.19741, -3.73971
- SAM number
- BR370
- Cadw record number
- 4297
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1608 map "(13) Cambriae Typus." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1608 · (13) Cambriae Typus. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1637 · Particular description of Wales. Cambria seu Wallia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1830 · V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. A. Kon: England. b. Frstenthum Wales: Shire: 37-40 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1899 · 196 Builth (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1901 · Sheet 14. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
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.
Nearby in the register
- Nant YstalwynDomesticunder 1 mi
- Cairn Cemetery on Esgair GerwynCairn Cemeteryunder 1 mi
- MaesglasDomestic3 mi
- Esgair Irfon round cairnRound Cairn3 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.