Settlement, N of Cwm Eigiau

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 group of hut circles that probably date to the Iron Age or Romano-British period (c. 800 BC - AD 400). Lying in the remote mountain pasture above Afon Eigiau this early settlement appears virtually complete. At least eight small circular hut platforms are included within three stone-walled enclosures or paddocks.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of later prehistoric domestic construction practices. Settlements as complete as this are unusual and the combination of huts and enclosures adds to the diversity of features and group value. The huts are also significant because, although the stone walls which characterise the majority of hut circles are absent, there is the possibility that these platforms are the foundations for timber structures which at this altitude would be significant. Given that the features are virtually undisturbed, the monument retains significant archaeological potential and there is a strong probability that structural evidence has survived, together with internal and external floor surfaces.

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