Dol-Wilym Burial Chamber

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 chambered tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 4,400 BC - 2,900 BC). Chambered tombs were built and used by local farming communities over long periods of time. There appear to be many regional traditions and variations in shape and construction.

The burial chamber of the 'portal dolmen' type is formed by four orthostats which support a massive capstone measuring, 3.3m in length, 3m wide and 1.7m in thickness. The chamber is orientated along a southeast-northwest axis, with an open ‘front’ to the southeast. The capstone slopes slightly from front to back on uprights which are both 1m in height each side of the open ‘front’ to a shorter 0.8m upright at the ‘back’; the forth upright at the north corner is also 1m in height. The western corner of the chamber is defined by two small earthfast boulders. The chamber is surrounded by a single large earthfast boulder due north and four smaller earthfast boulders which form an arc between south and west of the chamber.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. 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 intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. Chambered tombs may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.