Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Gelli Burial Chamber
Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn, Carmarthenshire, Wales
A scheduled monument in Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn, Carmarthenshire, recorded as Chambered round cairn (Prehistoric).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Chambered round cairn
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 25 September 1957
- Community
- Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn
- Unitary authority
- Carmarthenshire
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.09718, -3.79653
- SAM number
- CM177
- Cadw record number
- 2803
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 · 195 Lampeter (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 consists of the remains of a chambered round cairn, a Neolithic or Bronze Age (c 4,200BC - 800BC) burial monument comprising a stone-built chamber within a circular or sub-circular stone built mound.
The cairn and chamber lie on the edge of a scarp forming the edge of the flood plain of the river Towy. The kidney shaped mound is stony and measures 8m on its north-south axis and 10m along its east-west axis The burial chamber lies to the north of the centre of the mound and measures c. 3m along its east-west axis and 1.8m in width, two sides and part of a third being defined by three orthostats which remain in situ and protrude several centimetres from the surface of the mound. South of the chamber are two capstones lying on the surface of the mound.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The features are an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retain significant archaeological potential. There is a strong probability of the presence of both intact ritual and burial deposits, together with environmental and structural evidence. Chambered round barrows 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.
Nearby in the register
- Ty Newydd Standing StoneStanding Stoneunder 1 mi
- BroncwrtDomesticunder 1 mi
- Rhandirmwyn Bridge (partly in Cilycwm community)Transportunder 1 mi
- Rhandirmwyn Bridge (partly in Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn community)Transportunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.