Maen y Bardd Burial Chamber

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument consists of the remains of a chambered long cairn, dating to the early Neolithic (c.4,200BC - 3,000BC). A long cairn is a roughly rectangular or trapezoidal mound of stone, usually between 25m and 120m long, with a length exceeding twice its greatest width. The mound may be edged with a timber or stone revetment and contain one or more stone or wooden burial chambers.

The site comprises a rectangular chamber with a capstone and the remains of a surrounding cairn, beside the putative route of a Roman road west of Rowen. The chamber is formed by five upright stones, four of which support the capstone 1.2m above ground level. The fifth stone is 0.46m in height; the gap above may have provided the entrance to the chamber which measures 1.1m in length and 1.2m in width. The cairn is partly overlain by a field boundary wall which crosses the site from the northwest to the southeast and is further confused by a ditch which cuts it on its eastern side. In addition there is a spread of cairn material to the south of the chamber on the west side of the field boundary wall.

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 environmental and structural evidence. Chambered long cairns 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.