Pen Twr ring cairn

Summary description and reason for designation

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

The monument comprises the remains of a well-preserved ring cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on the gently sloping summit of the ridge of Cefn Gardys, above and to the S of Cwm Cynffiad and with fine views over the rolling landscape to the E. The ring cairn is circular on plan and measures about 16m in diameter within a grass-covered earthen ring bank 4m in thickness and up to 0.8m in height. The interior of the cairn is mounded, rising to about 0.4m above the external ground level. Although the cairn has been disturbed in the past, with erosion scars visible upon its ring bank and interior, the majority of the cairn appears to be largely intact.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. Excavated examples have shown these monuments to be essentially ceremonial - although with a consistent link with the burial of the dead (some cremation burials have been revealed). Rituals involving the burning and deposition of charcoal, perhaps symbolic of the funeral pyre, would seem to have been important. The well preserved monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence.

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.