Darren round 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 small round cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on the leading SE-facing edge of the Darren ridge, on the S flanks of Gorllwyn mountain. The small burial cairn is circular on plan with a well-defined edge and measures about 8.5m in diameter and up to 0.5m in height. Although it has been disturbed in the past - the centre of the cairn has been robbed to build a marker cairn and a later ruinous enclosure appended to its SW side - the majority of the base of the cairn appears to remain intact. An associated stone alignment is situated c.100m to the SW. The two standing stones are similar in size, measuring 0.5m in height; they are situated 10m apart and are aligned from NE to SW.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The cairn is a prominent burial monument and the associated stone alignment may have served to guide the eye or the ceremonial procession. Both are important relics of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial and ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence. The importance of the monument is further enhanced by the topographical association of the ring cairn with the many other cairns that can be found within the surrounding area, including the large summit burial cairns on the Gorllwyn (BR384).

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. Area A covers the burial cairn (Item A: SN 91207 56644) and area B covers the stone alignment (Item B: SN 91124 56572); both are circular and measure 25m in diameter.