Afon Ystymiau, cairns to N of

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Monument.

The monument comprises two burial cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within enclosed moorland on the lower SE-facing slopes of Moel Siabod, on a terrace above the upland plateau containing the Afon Ystymiau. The stone-built burial cairns are circular on plan. The burial cairn to the W (Afon Ystymiau cairn A) measures 16m in diameter and up to 1.8m in height. The cairn has been disturbed in the past, presumably by antiquarian investigation; a large stone cist is visible in its centre. The cairn to the E (Afon Ystymiau cairn B) measures 9.5m in diameter and up to 0.6m in height. The cairn has been disturbed in the past; a stone cist is visible in its centre and the footings of a subrectangular drystone building overlie the cairn on its NE side.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including buried prehistoric land surfaces. The importance of the monument is further enhanced by the visible structural detail - and by the group value formed by the proximity of the two cairns to each other.

The areas to be scheduled comprise the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. Area A, centred on Item A (Afon Ystymiau cairn A, SH 7352 5504), is circular and measures 25m in diameter. Area B, centred on Item B (Afon Ystymiau cairn B, SH 7357 5512), is circular and measures 20m in diameter.