Huts on Mynydd Enlli, Bardsey Island

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument consists of a settlement comprising six huts, two platforms, and a small oval hollow on the SW slope of Mynydd Enlli, possibly of prehistoric date. The huts are turf covered stone walls. The platforms look as though they should be hut sites. There is also a wall along the top of Mynydd Enlli of similar construction to the hut walls.

Hut 1. Maximum wall height now 0.5 m.

Hut 2. This hut is not much more than 2 m in internal diameter, the walls are very low, 0.3 m max., but the hut remains distinct.

Hut 3. The smallest of the three huts, about 3 m in internal diameter. None of the three is perfectly circular and none appears really oval; the ground is uneven and there are rabbit/shearwater holes, which all helps to confuse the issue. This seems to be the most circular. The walls, which, like those of the other two huts, are now grass-covered banks, are 0.5 m high at maximum.

Hut 4. The slightest remains of the three, those of an irregular, round-ish building about 5 m in diameter.

Hut 5. Roughly the same size and shape as Hut 4 but with walls standing to 0.6 m on average. This is perhaps the most oval-looking.

Hut 6. A single hut on a slope, it takes advantage of a natural shelf, but is still levelled slightly into the slope. Internal diameter about 6 m, walls standing to around 0.6 m. Entrance possibly up-slope, on the NE.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric settlement. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of associated archaeological features and deposits. The structures themselves may be expected to contain archaeological information concerning chronology and building techniques.

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