Disgwylfa Fawr Round Barrow

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 large round barrow, which dates to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). It is situated within open moorland on the summit of Disgwylfa Fawr. The earth built and turf-covered barrow is circular in shape on plan and measures 21m in diameter. It is rounded in profile and measures 2.5m in height. The barrow was part excavated in 1937 and revealed a ring of stone slabs beneath the mound. Within the stone setting were found two dugout tree trunks of oak (subsequently yielding radiocarbon dates centring on 1910 and 1350 BC respectively); the smaller dugout contained cremated human bones, a flint blade and a ceramic vessel covered by an animal skin. A slight central depression marks the location of the trench in the mound; however, much archaeological detail survives.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The feature is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 32m in diameter.