Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Hut Group West of Cwm Mawr
Dolbenmaen, Gwynedd, Wales
A scheduled monument in Dolbenmaen, Gwynedd, recorded as Hut Circle Settlement (Prehistoric).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Hut Circle Settlement
- Period
- Prehistoric
- Date of designation
- 8 October 1996
- Community
- Dolbenmaen
- Unitary authority
- Gwynedd
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 52.94977, -4.16078
- SAM number
- CN239
- Cadw record number
- 3871
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 LibrariesLlyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of WalesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1795 map "To Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Bart ... the map of the six counties of North Wales is most humbly inscribed by his obedient humble servant" (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1795 · To Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Bart ... the map of the six counties of North Wales is most… (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru – The National Library of Wales)
- 1883 · Watershed map England, Wales 3. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1896 · Sheet 7. Ordnance Survey of England and Wales. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1899 · 119 Snowdon (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1901 · Sheet 9 and 10. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
Cadw's description
Summary description and reason for designation
The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.
This multi-period settlement includes a hut-circle settlement of the Iron Age or Romano-British period (c.800 BC - AD 400) consisting of three huts and two small attached enclosures or yards and, close by, two rectangular huts, probably of the medieval period. The two elements represent two phases, or perhaps a long continuity of use. There are field walls of at least three periods, some associated with the round huts, some associated with the rectangular huts and some modern. A faint bank links the middle round hut and the smaller rectangular hut, and in the area thus enclosed is a slight suggestion of ridge and furrow.
The site lies on a low tongue of land projecting from the east side of a shallow valley and raised slightly from its marshy floor in an area of stony rough pasture.
The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric and possibly medieval domestic life and social organisation. The proximity of both Iron Age/Romano-British and medieval types of hut settlement, and their association with earlier field boundaries, suggests that there may have been continuity of occupation. This, combined with the well-preserved character of the features, ensures considerable archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of structural evidence and associated archaeological features and deposits. The importance of the monument is also emphasised by its group value with other similar monuments in the vicinity and by the unusual nature of the small enclosures attached to the hut circles.
The scheduled area consists of a quadrilateral ABCD, with sides of 75m (A-B), 72m (B-C along field wall), 108m (C-D) and 30m (D-A) covering the main hut settlement but with an extension CEFG on the east side, 20m, to include the additional rectangular hut foundation.
Nearby in the register
- Hut Circles near Craig y GesailUnenclosed hut circleunder 1 mi
- Mynediad Cae ChwaraeRecreationalunder 1 mi
- Plas-isaDomesticunder 1 mi
- Bwlch-y-fedwenDomesticunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.