Gatehouse Farm round barrow

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 fine round barrow, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within improved pasture on a locally prominent SW-facing spur above and to the E of the gully cut by a small stream. The grass-covered barrow is circular on plan and measures about 28m in diameter and up to 1m in height. A hedge has truncated the barrow on its N side; the hedge is roughly aligned from E to W and the N side of the barrow, in the adjoining field, has been ploughed away.

The monument is of national importance as an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including traces of a buried prehistoric land surface underneath. Its survival within an area of improved agricultural land is also very rare and further enhances its importance.

The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 36m in diameter, although the N arc has been flattened by up to 9m as a result of the truncation caused by the field boundary.